Blood and missing/plucked feathers

[mountainfarms]

Hello. We started raising chickens this past spring. When I went out this morning to feed and check on our hens, I found this poor girl looking like this (please see pictures). We do not have a rooster. She is the smallest and we have seen a couple of the other hens peck at her at times if she gets close to them, but we’ve never seen anything that looked like she was being harmed until this morning. Did another hen do this to her? Could she have done this to herself? I’m not sure what to do. I did bring her inside for now until I know the best course of action. I would appreciate any advice on what may have happened and what care she needs now. Thank you so much.

 

[sourland]

This was done by flock mates. If you can determine the birds attacking her , remove them from the flock until she heals - then reintroduce while monitoring. If you can not determine which birds are injuring her, it may be necessary to remove her from the flock until she heals. This would result in difficult reintroduction; however, leaving her in the flock can lead to cannibalism.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. How does her vent look? It seems that you have seem feather picking and possibly vent pecking going on. It can lead to cannibalism if not stopped. Is there any overcrowding? What do you feed? Do they all get outside to roam or free range daily?

Too little protein in the diet, vitamin or mineral deficiency, overcrowding and boredom can be common causes. I would separate the hen in a dog crate with food and water, but keep that in the coop. Spend time observing them to see who might be doing this or if it is more than one. Consider cleaning the area with Vetericyn spray or chlorhexidene 2%. Pinless peepers can be used on a bully who is pecking, but first see if there is a cause for this.

 

[BlueBaby]

This was done by flock mates. If you can determine the birds attacking her , remove them from the flock until she heals - then reintroduce while monitoring. If you can not determine which birds are injuring her, it may be necessary to remove her from the flock until she heals. This would result in difficult reintroduction; however, leaving her in the flock can lead to cannibalism.

This is very true. One of my neighbor recently had that happen in their flock of hen's. The other hen's killed her. It looked like they ate her alive.