First one hen pulls feathers from her neighbor. A week later half the flock has bare backs, and then blood appears on someone’s wound — and the flock starts pecking in earnest. Pecking escalates fast; it has to be stopped on the first day, and the cause found right after.
What to do immediately
- Separate injured hens. The sight of blood and the color red trigger the others. Keep the injured bird apart until it heals.
- Treat wounds with an anti-peck product: these are usually dark-colored and bitter. Treating, not just disinfecting.
- Dim the lights or switch to red lamps: blood doesn’t show under red light.
- Find the ringleader. Often one or two hens do the pecking. Separate them for a few days.
Causes
| Cause | How to check |
|---|---|
| Light too bright | Brighter than needed to read a newspaper |
| Crowding | More than 5–6 hens per m² of floor, too little feeder and drinker space |
| Lack of protein and methionine | Cheap feed, lots of grain instead of compound feed, molt |
| Too little salt | Unsalted feed, homemade mash |
| Boredom | No litter to scratch in, no outdoor run |
| Heat | House above 27–28 °C |
| Parasites | Hens scratch themselves; mites or lice at the feather base |
Vent pecking
The most dangerous form. In young hens starting to lay, or in overweight ones, the oviduct sometimes prolapses, and the red tissue attracts others. Separate such a hen immediately. To prevent it, don’t increase light for pullets too early (on lighting) and don’t overfeed them.
Prevention
- Give hens something to do: deep litter, hanging cabbage or hay, pecking blocks.
- Check the feed: complete, salted, with extra protein during molt (on molting).
- Don’t mix hens of different ages and sizes without a gradual introduction.
- Check regularly for parasites (on parasites).
About beak trimming
On commercial farms the beak tip is trimmed at the hatchery. It reduces the damage from pecking, but in many countries the procedure is restricted or banned, and on a small farm removing the causes matters more. Never trim an adult hen’s beak at home: it’s painful and dangerous.
Record the outbreaks
If pecking keeps coming back, its history in EggPulse inspections helps you find the link — with molt, a feed change, heat or bright light. Log deaths from pecking too, to see what the problem actually costs.
