beak rings

olpoll · Post by **olpoll** » 14 Mar 2009, 14:43

as you all know ive been having problems with feather eating resulting with a few of my hens getting stripped of there feathers,
well i tryed every possible remedy with nothing working so last week i took the drastic measure of beak rings (believe me a lot of thought went into this decision)
the point of this thread is to let you know how its going,
i put the rings in on Tuesday and immediately felt guilty,
the hens at first went very quiet and just sat about looking fed up. within a few hours they started to get used to the strange thing in there mouth that was stopping them from pulling feathers out of there companions.
within one day the hens were going about their daily business with out any problems at all (eating and drinking just fine) Ive also put them on a higher protein diet with the hope that in a few weeks when they are all fully feathered up and with more daylight hours so they can free range much longer that the feather pecking problem will be gone and the rings can be removed.
please dont think im trying to wind any of you up as i know a lot of you dont agree with beak rings, Ive had a lot of help and made a lot of friends from this web site, im not one for getting into debates about whats right and whats wrong and the last thing i want is to upset any one.
im only doing what i feel i need to do to solve the problem believe me if the hens show any signs of distress the rings will be removed.

juicylucy · Post by **juicylucy** » 14 Mar 2009, 14:51

Hi andrew i know that you have had real problems with this feather pecking malarky and tried everything to solve it.
As with everything with chicken husbandry it is always a personal choice as to the course of action we all take to solve problems.
I still have to say though that i totally disagree with them, although i dont walk in your shoes and havent had this sort of problem.
Please please keep a close eye on your girls, watch out for any respiratory problems that may occur from the beak bits and especially for any nasal discharge.
One question though, how long are you going to keep them on the birds?

olpoll · Post by **olpoll** » 14 Mar 2009, 15:33

if there are no of problems ill keep them on for about a month, i think the longer there on the more chance they have at breaking the habit,
eve and star my chicks from christmas are in a pen next to them now eleven weeks old and are due to go in with them in about five weeks hopefully the pecking will stop by then im still hoping one of the chicks is a cockerel as i think he might put some order back in the roost

PS ill post some pics of eve and star as i now am convinced star is a cockerel and not eve who we all originally thought was

Dee · Post by **Dee** » 14 Mar 2009, 20:15

What are beak rings ?

olpoll · Post by **olpoll** » 14 Mar 2009, 22:23

Dee wrote:What are beak rings ?

hi Dee,
plastic rings that go round the top beak and held in position through the nostril to stop the hen fully closing its mouth so it cant close its mouth on a feather and rip it out they are also used for cannibalistic hens,
yep i know it sounds a bit drastic but if you get a serious case of feather eating you'll soon realise anti peck sprays and every thing else on the market dont work....beak rings do! they have been used in this country for over 50 years.

Dee · Post by **Dee** » 15 Mar 2009, 09:14

Hi Andrew
It does sound drastic but as ive only had hens for a few months i have alot to learn.
My 3 ex batts were very vicious at times to each other , never thought sweet litte hens could inflict so much damage on one another !!

Post by Mo » 15 Mar 2009, 10:12

We've had several discussions on this, here is one of them with a link to more information. People have strong views on the subject, it's good when they are expressed so reasonably as this thread has been so far.

chickenchaser · Post by **chickenchaser** » 15 Mar 2009, 12:48

The thing I find worrying about these threads is that people don't read them properly and may use these things as a first resort instead of a last resort after trying EVERYTHING else as Andrew has.

olpoll · Post by **olpoll** » 15 Mar 2009, 17:16

Mo wrote:We've had several discussions on this, here is one of them with a link to more information. People have strong views on the subject, it's good when they are expressed so reasonably as this thread has been so far.

thanks mo,
all i have to say on the subject is that ill give an honest report on how my hens are getting on with the beak rings.
its a lovely day today up here in the north west, the girls are enjoying the sun and are having a good old dust bath and doing just fine.
i also feel a lot less stressed not having to watch them ripping out feathers every few minutes

chickentina · Post by **chickentina** » 16 Mar 2009, 21:40

i will be watching to see how you get on olpoll

i am still suffering from feather eating and pulling all my girls have bald patches and i have noticed its not just one that does it either its all of them....so far i have tried purple spray, stokholm tar and feather pecking spray....but they still do it

you are very brave to try the beak rings..i hope they work for you as i know what your going through with the feather eating

is there anything else i can try...that i haven,t yet (apart from beak rings?)

tina xx

daveindeal · Post by **daveindeal** » 17 Mar 2009, 09:20

ive never heared of a beak ring and tryed googleing for an image but cant find any.

olpoll

can you upload a pic so we can all see what we are talking about!!

untouchable · Post by **untouchable** » 17 Mar 2009, 09:45

If you click on the link that Mo posted, there is a picture of one on there )t'

3frenchhens · Post by **3frenchhens** » 17 Mar 2009, 10:45

Hi Olpoll, I haven't been on the forum for a while, due to health problems and being made redundant. Have I missed something, I thought the last time I read your post's you had the problem sorted by separating your girls and using Ukadex. They were growing new feathers and all seemed well. What went wrong? Sorry if I've missed this previously but am very interested as I have been having similar problems.

juicylucy · Post by **juicylucy** » 18 Mar 2009, 20:53

Tina
There is a product called ukadex which is very effective for feather pecking. It usually works and is the best anti pecking product around. It stinks to high heaven and it has worked for loads of people i know after they have tried everything else.
Please give it a go before thinking about the beak bits
Lucy x

olpoll · Post by **olpoll** » 19 Mar 2009, 00:01

3frenchhens wrote:Hi Olpoll, I haven't been on the forum for a while, due to health problems and being made redundant. Have I missed something, I thought the last time I read your post's you had the problem sorted by separating your girls and using Ukadex. They were growing new feathers and all seemed well. What went wrong? Sorry if I've missed this previously but am very interested as I have been having similar problems.

every thing started off well with the ukadex and the separation also worked but as soon as the ukadex starts to were off they start pecking again
i needed something to stop them completely and hopefully with the different diet and a lot more daylight hours in a few weeks the habit will be broken
ive had the rings in over a week now with no problems
i can honestly say with hand on heart that catching the hens and soaking them every few day with the horrible ukadex was definitely making the hens more miserable than the rings which now they have forgotten are there

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