With some of our growers, about 13 weeks old now, we’ve had a real issue with henpecking. We’ve not experienced this before and we weren’t sure how to handle it or more importantly, why the hens were doing it.
Henpecking is something that doesn’t always happen within coops over the many years that we’ve been keeping chickens we’ve only now just come across this as an issue.
What even is henpecking?
Henpecking is where one or more of your hens decide to pick on another hen and peck at her and pull her feathers out. Sounds awful, I know! In our case the hen that’s being bulled has been pecked so much by the others that she’s actually bleeding. This is not a good sign as this can bring out the cannibalistic nature within the chickens! We’ve removed this hen and popped her in our ‘hospital run’. She’ll stay in there for a good few weeks, just so ensure she makes a good recovery and her feathers start to grow back before we introduce her back into the flock.
What makes them start to henpeck?
There’s a few different reasons as to why hens start to henpeck. It can be caused by there not being enough room for the amount of hens in one coop. This is definitely not the situation for us, as all are birds are kept to organic standards and have plenty of extra space. If you think this might be causing your issue, you should aim to have at least a 2-3 square ft per chicken inside and 8-10 square ft per chicken outside the run.
It can also be caused by not having enough roosting space. The term ‘pecking order’ is well and truly shown when it comes to roosting. The more dominant hens, just one or two will be sat on the top roost, there will be a few in the middle and then one or two on the bottom roost, these are the bottom of the flock. If you have a look after dark where your hens are positioned, you can then mark the top hens, as these may well be your bullies!
Henpecking can be caused if there’s not enough food and water available to the flock. If you have more than a handful of hens you may need more than one food and water source. At the farm, we like to have 1 hanging food feeder for about 7/8 hens and at least 1 water source for every 10 hens and having one option of water outside helps if they are free ranging.
Your hen may be being bullied if they are a weaker bird or if they are sick. If you have one that’s more timid, weak or injured she will probably be henpecked, because of this we like to have a separate area where we move these hens to give them a bit of R&R, this helps to reduce the likelihood that they will start henpecking in the first place, as its not a good habit to have in your flock!
What do I do to stop henpecking Once it’s started?
Good question! We start off by removing the hen from the coop and putting her in a smaller, safe coop so she can heal in peace. You then need to treat her wounds. Get the hen out and use warm, soapy water to clean any wounds. If the wound is deeper, you can flush it out with hydrogen peroxide, iodine or detadine. Check on her daily to make sure her wounds don’t get infected.
Make sure you support the hen in her recovery. We give a vitamin boost in the hens water to ensure that she can recover as quickly as possible to get her back in with the flock.
When the hen is back to her full health you can then re-introduce her back into the flock and fingers crossed she can hold her own this time in the coop!
