feather pulling

[yakitori]

My smaller easter egger establishes her dominance by pecking and yanking the feathers of the other birds. There’s only 2 Russian Orloffs below her in the pecking order. The orloffs cluck loudly and run away, Is this normal? They otherwise get a long fairly well and hang out together as a trio....

My alpha BSL will give a firm closed mouth peck on the heads of the other birds, it doesn’t seem to bother them, and there’s no loud clucking. My second in command is my larger EE, and I’ve never seen the her actually peck anyone else. The orloffs get along very well with each other and are very gentle birds.

 

[sourland]

Sounds like chickens being chickens - no problems there.

 

[yakitori]

Sounds like chickens being chickens - no problems there.

I forgot to mention that she actually plucks some feather out sometimes, is that normal too?

 

[sourland]

Feather plucking is generally a boredom situation and sometimes escalates into a bad habit. Increased protein may help.

 

[yakitori]

Feather plucking is generally a boredom situation and sometimes escalates into a bad habit. Increased protein may help.

Hmm, they're 14 weeks and on 20% chick starter. They also have plenty of space in the run (100ft/5 birds) and for free ranging (half the day, 1/4 acre+). I also have 3 guinea fowls, but they're not allowed into the run with the pullets. I've noticed that the guineas are more aggressive in their pecking order behavior, do you think it's possible she learned this from them?