So darn worried about the girls/roo last night I didn't sleep and was up with them at 5 to let them out. The roo never did go back into the coop and slept outside all night. Thus, the reason I didn't sleep. Based upon the faces this morning, it looks like the biggest offended is a little white leghorn. Her face is completely purple so am not sure if she was picking on her own feathers or the little mutt maran hen. The mutt maran hen has back feather loss due to the roo and side feather loss too. I've been at whits ends trying to figure out how to stop the pecking. I recognize it so easily now with the baby chicks and they are very easy to separate/treat quickly so I'm not sure why i've had such a hard time with the older hens.
They look atrocious and I should take some pictures. My buffs have mostly mild feather loss on their backs which the saddles seemed to help. I did them anyways. The white leghorn had more significant feather loss and the little black maran mutt just looks bedraggled. It's too early for molting... or I'd assume that. I had a mild case of mites but haven't seen any since I treated with poultry powder, Are mites even a big issue at our elevation and humidity levels?
Since I have newer chicks out in the coop, I've added a mixture of the all-flock pellets with the gamebird and non-medicated chick starter. They should have plenty of protein and eggs production is still the same, even with the feather loss. Part of why I didn't assume molting is because egg production hasn't gone down in these girls. I was going to treat with wazine in the water today as the last set of girls drinking out of the big girl waterer are all over 4 months old but now will hold off. I have no reason to suspect worms but it's always better safe than sorry. An option I have is to just treat the 4 girls with ivermectin directly to each hen. I can worry about that another day.
I may separate the little maran mutt until I get a better handle on her but if she's low hen, that won't solve the longterm problem. The only other solution is to try to catch the white leghorn pecking and then separate her. She's always been a little bossy but not to the point of ever appearing overly mean. But then, I am not in the coop with them at night. I have the main coop and the smaller coop outside. They prefer the smaller coop outside.
I'm done musing for the day. It's going to be a long day in trying to figure out what my options are. My main goal is a healthy flock. They aren't crowded, they have plenty of food and water with various stations set up in 3 areas for both food and water, they get lots of fresh veggies... I don't know what else I can do other than culling the perps. I did not incubate any of the white leghorn eggs. I'm not a huge fan of that particular breed. I will add vitamins to their water today to help with stress. I try not to add the vitamins constantly because I worry about an imbalance but today seems like a good day to give them a boost.
. 
