5 girls pulling feathers out of 1 girl

[rndy]

i have 5 girls being overly aggressive towards 1. they have been raised together for 18 months since birth.. they are holding her down and pulling feathers out of her neck mostly.. is there a way to correct this action

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hi and welcome!
Sorry you are having such a difficulty in your flock. Can you tell us a bit more about your birds and your setup so that we can start to get an idea of just what might be contributing to their behavior and, thus, make suggestions to correct it? Are these six your only birds? What breed(s) are the birds? How are your birds kept - are they confined 24/7 in a coop/run setup or free ranged? If confined, what are the dimensions of the area they have available to them?

 

[rndy]

thanks.. yes these are my only birds. i have 2 silver streaked wyndot, 1 rhode island, 1barred rock and 2 buffs.. one of the buffs is the victim. they have a 4 x 4 enclosed coop leading to a 10 x 15 covered run gated to a 20 x 30 fenced run.

 

[azygous]

It sounds to me like you may have a bullying problem. Rather than address your problem from a feather picking angle, which is one issue you're dealing with, I think you need to focus on why they're all ganging up on the victim.

One reason that your Buff all of a sudden a victim of bullying could be the others sense there may be something wrong with her. Is she acting any different lately? Is there any indication she may be sick or lame? It's a vicious cycle. The more she's bullied, the more she'll behave like a victim, and this encourages the bullies to bully even more. So try to see why she's getting this unwanted attention.

Is there a ring leader? Does one lead the charge? Who is it? You might think about removing her from the flock for a few days and see if the others continue the bullying or does it stop? This requires some time and energy to sit down with your chickens and observe them. But you won't solve the problem unless you do.

If you want some reading, here's a thread I started some time back and it's all about feather picking, causes and cures, in case you are curious about it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/697052/i-think-i-found-a-miracle-cure-for-feather-picking