Feather picking and egg eating

[bpaul16]

I have 12 hens in a 12x12 pen. They eat 20% layer and 2 handfuls of hen scratch everyday. They are picking each other's feathers, acting aggressively toward each other and the egg eating just started two days ago. The only cause I can think of is boredom. I can't let them out to free range any because of our dogs.
Would putting a flock block help to give them something to peck at other than eggs and themselves? Any other ideas appreciated.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You definitely need to enlarge their area or get rid of some birds, I would remove half if you can't enlarge their area or let them out. They can and will cannibalize each other. I think they are past a flock block helping, especially in the long term.

 

[rosemarythyme]

What, if anything, do you have for them to do in there? Bored birds are birds that can cause trouble. A flock block isn't very entertaining and my birds only get it on very rainy or snowy days when they really don't want to go out. Are there places within the run for hiding to give the picked on birds some place to escape? Or things to climb up on, to expand the space vertically and to let them put some distance between one another?

 

[aart]

Give them some animal protein...mealworms, ground up meat scraps, scrambled eggs, etc.

Are there places within the run for hiding to give the picked on birds some place to escape? Or things to climb up on, to expand the space vertically and to let them put some distance between one another?

...and this^^^^