Difficulty identifying a bully

[elizamamma]

Hello chicken lovers,
I am a relatively new chicken mama. I have four 9 month old girls, 4 different breeds, raised together from chickhood. They live in a 4x6 coop with an attached 4x8x6ft high run. There are three nest boxes but they all prefer the same one. They also get to range in our garden for a few hours each day in a 24x24 ft space. In the last month or so I noticed that three of them are getting a little bedraggled. The smallest one, our Speckled Sussex, has broken feathers on her wings and is looking plucked underneath. The other two looked a little bare around the bottom. I assumed that the Barred Rock, who shows no signs of missing feathers, was the culprit and moved her to a separate coop. She's been in there a week, however, and the remaining three still look like they are getting beat up. I'm being more diligent about looking for feathers in the coop and run to see if the plucking is ongoing, but could I have falsely accused the Barred Rock? How do you ID the perpetrator?
Would love any advice! Thanks!
Liz

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It may very well be more than one. That size coop is fairly tight for that many birds. I imagine it is a bought/manufactured coop. They usually add too many nest boxes for the amount of chickens their coop can hold and they overestimate the appropriate number of birds.
The coop would be better for 6 birds max and the run is about right for 3 birds.
What are your birds being fed?
It is usually a space and/or nutrition problem.
Feather picking can be just boredom and friends annoyingly too close.
It can also be from a need for more (animal) protein because feathers are 93% protein and available.

 

[Cayuga momma]

It may very well be more than one. That size coop is fairly tight for that many birds. I imagine it is a bought/manufactured coop. They usually add too many nest boxes for the amount of chickens their coop can hold and they overestimate the appropriate number of birds.
The coop would be better for 6 birds max and the run is about right for 3 birds.
What are your birds being fed?
It is usually a space and/or nutrition problem.

I agree with chickencanoe.
It could also be boredom. You try adding more toys in their run.

 

[elizamamma]

Hi, thanks so much! Shoot, I thought it was a good size for 4 girls, that's good to know.
I know there are lots of different recommendations for coop sizes, but what would be ideal for four medium to large hens?

For food, we have them on Green Mountain organic layer pellets, supplemented by leftover raw vegetables from our kitchen. I also hang up a cabbage for them periodically and give them a handful of corn for a treat when I need to get them back into the run.

Thanks again for your help! Liz

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm sorry @elizamamma. I read your first post as 9 birds. It is OK for 4.
When supplementing with kitchen scraps, don't avoid meat and fish. If they are only getting vegetables supplementing layer feed, their protein intake can be too low.
Hence the possibility of their desire to eat feathers.

 

[elizamamma]

Okay, thanks! I'll definitely add some protein to their extra food and see if that helps.