i have a 5 month old EE pullet who just started laying a week ago. she is at the bottom of the pecking order. if any of the other girls come within 10 ft. of her she squatts and closes her eyes and just waits to be beat up. my BO bullies her constantly. today i noticed that the right side muff is almost completely bare. what should i do, other than put meds on the wound. (No blood, just raw, bald skin)
Get some blue -kote and put that on the bare spot, you'll have to do it with cotton since you don't want to spray it so close to her eyes. and If my hen was bullying another I would take the bully out for about a week that will place bully low on pecking order and give EE a chance to heal. Put bully where she can see the flock but can't be a bully.
Trust me, the issue can happen no matter if she's on the bottom or not. Even people with Ameraucanas like myself will find that someone in the flock, usually never gets caught doing it, likes picking the beards/muffs of anyone. ALL of my Wheaten Ameraucanas have bald patches where their muffs are and there's not much I can do about it that I'd want to. It doesn't seem to bother them though.
My three EE's have no muffs either. One other chicken eats them! The skin isn't raw, and I don't have anywhere to isolate them, so I just let it go. Poor muff-less girls. I had to isolate my two Polish for the same reason, except it's top hats and not muffs that get plucked out. But I can't put the EE's with the Polish because the EE's eat their top hats and it does get bloody. Stupid chickens!
