Chickens With Bad Habits

Cannibalistic behavior occurs throughout the animal world in both wild and captive populations. In the wild cannibalism is seen as an adaptive function that increases an individual’s fitness, by providing nutrients and simultaneously reducing competition for resources by eliminating competitors. Within captive populations, however, cannibalism is perceived as an abnormal behavior and the mechanisms underlying its development are poorly understood. In chickens cannibalism involves beak inflicted injury followed by the consumption of blood and other tissues. Evidence suggests that experiences early in life have important implications for the later development of cannibalism in poultry, and that cannibalistic behavior is a learned response that is enhanced by observing other chickens engaging in the behavior. Many causes are thought to initiate the problem but it is not understood why it is uncontrollable in some cases but never becomes a problem in other situations. Cannibalism may start as toe picking in baby chicks or feather picking in growing birds. Head tail and vent picking are problems in older birds. The early symptoms of a cannibalism problem may be difficult to detect. It is necessary that the poultry man be on guard to detect any aggressive behavior and take the necessary management changes before the problem progresses into a severe case of cannibalism. The causes might be too many birds in a confined area, keeping chicks too warm, weak chicks or oddly colored chicks which draw attention, exposing chicks to light that is too intense, letting them run out of feed or water, feeding low protein chicken feed or feed that lacks salt, not removing dead birds. Lowering the lights can help stop cannibalism or using red lights. I rarely have a problem with it since I use alfalfa hay as my litter which provides lots of fiber and protein. Mental stimulation is also important to keep chicks from picking feathers out of boredom. I purchase some crickets and mealworms which I dump into the baby chicks litter. I start with six inches of hay on the brooder floor and add to it as it becomes soiled. I sprinkle some chicken feed over the hay to feed the crickets and mealworms. Later on the chicks will waste enough feed to take care of the mealworms and crickets. My chicken coops and hen houses are pretty much miniature ecosystems that provide high quality protein to the birds. Probably one of the reasons my chicks feather out so quickly. Hens that are allowed to forage rarely engage in cannibalism. When you discover a chick or chicken with a wound just rub some auto grease on the area and usually it recovers soon. [FONT=arial,Arial,Helvetica][/FONT]