EE Being De-Feathered

[Disheygirl]

I have an EE who is the lowest broad in the flock of eight. She had a light molt about a month and a half ago and lost some feathers around her neck (and tail but those grew back). As a result of the molt, she started getting picked on more often than usual, and now, she is missing a solid inch of feathers in a ring around her neck - inch thick all along the back from side to side. I'm not sure who is doing it, but if I had to guess, it's happening while they're roosting - my office overlooks their run I don't see any obvious bullying.

I have six chicks who are ready to go outside (but be separate from the big girls)...they're about two months old (we keep getting freezing snaps here and it's been a challenge to acclimate them - they are way too old to be inside...the dust is insane). I've let the EE around them now and again outside in their own space when I'm there, and she's very un-reactive. She'll peck one if it does something she doesn't like, but she doesn't actively try to bully them. Is it a bad idea to put her with them when I move them outside, so that maybe her feathers get to grow back, even if she's only with them at night? I don't want to mess with flock dynamics, but blue kote isn't keeping the feather picker away and it's just getting worse. Thoughts?

 

[DobieLover]

Can you post pictures of your entire setup including the inside of the coop showing the location of all roost space, etc?
How old are the 6 chicks?
How many other bearded/muffed birds do you have in your flock? Sometimes the others that don't sport these features become obsessed with plucking at them. Most of my flock has beards/muffs and I had a nutty EE that liked to strip the others of their facial features.
I would also check this hen over thoroughly for de-pluming mites... just to be sure.

 

[Disheygirl]

The big pic is their setup (last summer when we had leaves on the trees!). There are two coops - the smaller one in the middle (original) that is used for their dust bath in the winter (under the roof) and where they lay eggs and have food/water (inside the coop), and then the shed (on the right) is where they sleep (and also lay eggs because nobody can use all of the boxes in just one of the coops).

The inside of both coops - seven of them sleep on the lefthand (red line) all huddled in together, and one sleeps on the right roost (red circle). There is a bunch of empty roost space but they love to smoosh in. Nobody sleeps in the smaller one (which is where I was going to move the six younger girls to start). I don't know why it uploaded sideways but I can't get it to rotate here.

This is her hairdo - the skin isn't red / doesn't look infected and it's pretty uniform from side to side. I can try to get a closeup if it helps, but she was not in the mood to hold still for it (I can grab a helper if a better pic is needed). Is there an obvious 'tell' with depluming mites? I don't see any eggs or critters but I think those go in the feather shaft. Is it time to buy a microscope? I have another muffed bird who lost her muffs to the fermented feed...it gets on her beard and someone is apparently grooming her.

The babies are about two months old now (I lose track of the exact day I got them) - I've put another pic of the young girls with her (she's circled) from last week.

 

[Disheygirl]

Can you post pictures of your entire setup including the inside of the coop showing the location of all roost space, etc?
How old are the 6 chicks?
How many other bearded/muffed birds do you have in your flock? Sometimes the others that don't sport these features become obsessed with plucking at them. Most of my flock has beards/muffs and I had a nutty EE that liked to strip the others of their facial features.
I would also check this hen over thoroughly for de-pluming mites... just to be sure.

Here is her neck - should I just do ivermectin and see if it helps? The blue tint is leftover from Blue Kot.