Chicken attacked by hawk missing feathers

one of our chickens was recently attacked by a hawk...she is ok but has missing feathers on her neck and upper back...When we put her back with the other chickens will they peck at her missing feathers...do we need to cover it up or should we not worry about it. (She is the alpha chicken)

I would be cautious, maybe introduce her when you can watch them for awhile so that you can see how they react. If they do start to pick at her, I would remove her immediately and let her heal up.

ok...We put her in for an hour or so the past couple days and the one other chicken is starting to challenge her although she is challenging back...do I need to put something on her back to protect it??

I would. They make chicken aprons that are supposed to be for Breeding but should protect her too. You can buy them or they have patterns you can sew yourself.

ok awesome! i will have to look into that

also does anyone know if the 2nd in charge chicken will end up taking over? she has been trying to challenge the injured chicken since her injury...

Sorry to hear about the attack on your chicken. Okay, This may sound TOTALLY crazy but believe me IT WORKS ! Been there done that have the T-shirt AND the cap. Spray LIGHTLY the bare places where the feathers are missing with PRUNING SPRAY. Yep, the same icky black tar like gunk people spray on tree limbs after they are cut. (Which you should NOT do.) I know this sounds nuts but IT WORKS. ! I had a chicken attack by a dog and ripped the skin under her wing badly. I called my vet who just by chance had come from an avian clinic. She said when the teaching Avian D.M.V. told the other vets to use the pruning spray on chicken wounds and feather loss they thought she had lost her educated mind. Gathering a LOT of courage, taking a deep breath and trusting my vet totally, I sprayed the wound with the pruning spray. All kind of things running through my mind like - OMG all her feathers are going to be stuck together for ever. She will never be able to raise her wing again. She is going to be come infected and die. And a million other things NONE of which happened. The horrible rip with hanging skin healed beautifully, no infection, the pruning spray dried up and eventually fell off, chickie was like new again. Good luck, spray LIGHTLY, just enough to cover the skin, don't need a running glob. May want to practice a couple of squirts on a piece of cardboard or something first.

Re: previous post - pruning spray - yes this will stop the other birds from pecking.

wow! ok maybe I will try that