I have a flock of 5, and 3 days ago I added two more hens. The two hens handpicked all the butt feathers off my 3 black australorps. I don't really have a way to separate them from the coop.Will the new hens eventually kill the three by packing their intestines out? I read that could happen. Thanks for reading
Surely you can find a scrap of chicken wire or field fencing to erect a partition to prevent the two new hens from mauling the three timid ones. It requires but a small effort. Another thing you could do is buy some pinless peepers and put them on the new hens. These devices prevent chickens from seeing their target well enough to do the same kind of damage these hens have managed to pull off. You definitely are risking a tragic outcome by doing nothing. All it will take is pecking the skin to open some bleeding wounds, and those hens won't stop until they've eaten their way into the backsides of those three hapless victims.
