feather pecking and hens mounting each other

[gateship85]

For the last few months our chickens (all hens mostly just over the age of 1 but some ranging from 3 to 7 years of age) have started to feather peck each other. They have a large coop and run, plenty of room, plus we let them out nearly every day to roam our property. They get scraps, wheat, and lay pellets, plus anything they eat or catch while roaming. Some of the chickens are so bad off that they are nearly naked or just have a light fuzz of feathers. I have noticed though that the relatively "good" looking ones are missing feathers mostly around their heads, necks, and bottoms. I have kept chickens for years and they haven't ever done anything to this extreme and I am stumped as to why they are doing it now.

They have also started to mount each other. I have had hens crow before and that was a surprise the first time it happened but I haven't ever seen hens mount each other or at least this many hens doing it (lol pun intended). I am wondering now if that is why a lot of the head/neck feather pecking is happening.

They have also gotten a lot more aggressive lately. A pullet got into their coop the other day (another hen has been raising chicks in a penned off part of the run) and they killed her quite brutally. They trapped her in a corner and basically tore her apart. Not a pretty sight (we didn't find out until way too late).

Now I know all of these things are pretty normal separately but I am wondering if everything combined means some thing? Any ideas or thoughts on how to correct this behavior?

 

[soydo]

It may help to spell out how much room and how many birds. A common suggestion is to up the protein in their feed if there's feather picking.

I have never seen hens mount each other in the 30+ years of chicken keeping. Pictures or videos would be great.

 

[gateship85]

I know! It is new for me as well..very strange. There are 16 hens (plus another 8 pullets but this behavior started before they came around, plus the pullets are fenced off from the older chickens for now. So a total of 24 chickens) Their run is 30'x 40' and coop 10' x 12' and they get a run of the property during the day. The run is mostly for when we are not at home.
I will see about getting higher protein lay pellets next time I am in town.
I can try to get some photos and video but I don't have great technology for that.