Chicken bullying

[15hjschi]

I am a first-time chicken owner and have a flock of five 5mo old hens that I got all at the same time as chicks this spring. They are all laying except one, who is also slightly smaller than the others. She has been getting severely picked on by her flock mates (mostly by one hen, but sometimes the others will join in). They pulled out a lot of the feathers on her back, legs, and around vent. I put a fabric saddle on her which seemed to help with the back plucking for a few weeks, but the problem is persisting. I wonder if they know she is slightly "behind" them developmentally. Will they stop eventually? Do I just let it run its course and hope they stop when she starts laying? Do I put pinless peepers on the main offender? Any advice welcome!

 

[sourland]

How much space do they have? My initial inclination would be to put Pin Less Peepers on the primary pecker/plucker.

 

[Pukkits]

I would put pinless peepers on the primary aggressor, or put the aggressor in chicken jail a few days to reset pecking order. If it's most of the flock doing this, they may have another stressor. How much space do they have? Do they have more than one food/water source? Do they have run clutter to provide visual blocks?

Be aware that sometimes chicken's primitive brains decide to remove what they view as a weak bird from the flock, even if the chicken is a functional chicken. This happened to us a few years ago with a mixed flock of chicken breeds. Most of the birds hated a sweet buff orpington named Lucia. Her feathers stuck out weird and had a crooked toe. Incredibly sweet, human-friendly nature. Most of the hens grouped up and tried to kill her. Twice. After her recovery, we decided to overhaul our flock. One by one we moved birds in with Lucia in her separate run. If they got along, we kept them. Bullies went to a neighbor who was happy to get healthy layers for free. Their bolder personalities handled a new flock well. We went from eight birds to three. We never regretted our flock change, but if your birds aren't experiencing another stressor you can change, you might have to rehome your picked on bird or a bully.