Free range producers are discovering an aerosol spray which claims to check feather pecking.
The product, called P.B.H. Spray, produces a “repulsive odour” which, says the manufacturer, Intervet, is enough to turn hens away from anything that is given a treatment with it. So if hens that are being pecked are given a spray then they will be left alone. The spray has been used for years by broiler breeders but was never promoted in this country. But it continues to be available through suppliers including Bowden and Knights Livestock Services.
The company’s Mike Bowden told the Ranger: “An increasing number of free range producers are asking for it. And as far as we are concerned it certainly works.”
Intervet also markets the spray—which costs £6.50p a can—to pig producers to combat tail-biting.
One BFREPA member has begun using the spray for the first time to combat feather pulling around the preen gland in a new flock of three thousand pullets.
“Even with a relatively small flock it is obviously impossible to do all the birds,” he said. “But we targeted those that were showing most evidence of feather pulling and we have put a leg ring on those treated so that we can monitor what happens to them.
“But to be honest there have been no dramatic results and we have no way of knowing how long it is supposed to last. And of course it does cross your mind that if you stop them pulling feathers out of one bird then will they just move on to another.
“But it just seems like such a good idea. I got so carried away that I even sprayed the corner of the shed where some birds were laying floor eggs. It made no difference at all.”
