Easter Egger thinks she is a rooster and mounting RIR

[Sllovenberg]

I am hoping someone can help me with this. Sorry for the long story!
I have 6 hens a little over 1 1/2 years old and I had a rooster. Rooster got mean and was attacking me so I had to get rid of him. Rooster has been gone for about 5 months. He had 2 favorite hens who lost lots of feathers on their back. The one EE had a molt in October and her feathers grew back. The RIR is about 4 months younger and has not had a molt yet. She has not grown back her feathers. Ive checked her for mites, fleas and anything else that might be wrong, I find nothing. My husband saw the EE mounting my RIR like a rooster (she is definitely a laying hen) and I assume that is why her feathers are not growing back. I am kinda new to the chicken thing but I did see a saddle on Amazon. Does anyone have any advise for me. None of my other hens have any feathers missing. I put wound spray on her but nothing seems to work. Should I punish the EE and confine her to the sick coop? Should I purchase the saddle? Should I put the RIR in the sick coop? Any advise is greatly appreciated. I attached a few pics of my RIR and the coop they are in. We do the DLM and I use First Saturday lime or DE. Happy New Year!

 

[Eggcessive]

Her feathers are starting to grow back on her back, but it looks like a hen might be picking them out. When hens suffer this type of feather loss, they may not regrow feathers until after a molt around 16-18 months old. Since she is regrowing some pin feathers, do you think she has already been molting? Some hens molt very dramatically, while some are less noticeable when molting. I have made my own hen saddles from one piece of polarfleece with 2 wing slits to hold them on. Mine were similar to this one:
http://www.linnacresfarm.com/2014/04/how-to-make-simple-hen-saddleapron.html

 

[Sllovenberg]

Her feathers are starting to grow back on her back, but it looks like a hen might be picking them out. When hens suffer this type of feather loss, they may not regrow feathers until after a molt around 16-18 months old. Since she is regrowing some pin feathers, do you think she has already been molting? Some hens molt very dramatically, while some are less noticeable when molting. I have made my own hen saddles from one piece of polarfleece with 2 wing slits to hold them on. Mine were similar to this one:
http://www.linnacresfarm.com/2014/04/how-to-make-simple-hen-saddleapron.html

Yes they do look like they are starting to grow but nothing happens further than that. She has been this way since the rooster left 5 months ago. I live in NJ we have had great winter weather so far however I am afaid that she will get frostbite on her back once it gets colder so I will definitely make a saddle for her. Thank you for the reference, looks easy to make. Thanks for your input I really appreciate it. I hope that you have a great 2022.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since they don’t seem to be growing more the others are picking them out. New feather shafts are very attractive to others to eat. BluKote spray may help to hide the bare spots, but I would make a hen saddle/apron.