Stop Chickens from Pecking Each Other

If you own a farm, likely you have chickens, and there are various issues associated with owning chickens. Some of the responsibilities of owning chickens are feeding them, collecting eggs, and even monitoring the chicken relationships. That may sound silly, but if you have chickens that have issues with bullying or pecking each other, that is something you may want to fix. Fortunately there are ways to deal with your chickens pecking each other, and it just takes a little vinegar!

Vinegar definitely seems to be a universal solution for just about everything from clothes stains to training your dog to not chew the furniture, so it shouldn't be surprising that you can use vinegar to stop your chickens from pecking each other. The taste of the vinegar isn't pleasant and probably works as a deterrent to pecking other birds because the taste could be renewed. However, this technique is kind of a shaky one, because your pecking problem may be more serious. Pecking can be a sign of impending chicken cannibalism.

When birds peck each other, it is often an attempt at dominance, or establishing a social order. If not checked and controlled, the pecking could escalate to serious injuring and damage of your birds. Here are a few techniques you should use in managing your chickens:

• Crowding birds: the more crowded the birds, the more likely they are to peck each other
• Feed and water: make sure that there's enough for every chicken to have a decent and fair share of food. Pecking can ensue if there's a competition for food and water
• Light intensity: keep the lighting relatively low, because bright lights can irritate and aggravate chickens' behavior, increasing pecking
• House temperature: make sure the temperature inside the bird house is a comfortable one. If you keep the temperature too high, it could aggravate the birds' behavior.
• Dietary nutrients: make sure that your chickens are getting all the nutrients they needs and in the proper proportions
• Parasitic control: maintain the health of your chickens and watch out for unwanted parasites. Parasites can increase the irritability of chickens, thus increasing the chance and risk of pecking.
• Weed out the unhealthy chicks: remove the sick, weak, or discolored chicks from the coop. If there is a noticeably weaker animal, it will be a likely target for abuse.

If these tricks still don't solve the problem, your last result is de-beaking. While a pain, both time-wise and financially, de-beaking could be your only option for this problem. It's easiest to de-beak birds when they are chicks because their beaks are softer.

So, if your chickens pecking each other is a serious problem in your coop, take the necessary measures to stop it and solve the problem. By solving this seemingly small problem, you will have succeeded in solving a slew of other problems.