grumpy chickens? pecking order?

[Barnmaradotte]

So this morning I removed a hen from my flock, and this afternoon when I got home one of my hens is missing her longer tailfeathers. my first thought was, who's been messing with my girls? Then I noticed all 14 of them have light feather damage all being on their backs in front of the tail. Watched for a bit and it seems several are pecking the whole bunch. They even pecked me! The smallest hen is borderline being a &!+@#. All these hens have been together since day 1, and are 16 - 17 weeks old. My guess is they are trying to redo the pecking order? do I need to remove the meanie? Any tips or input would be great being that im new to chickens.

 

[Barnmaradotte]

nothing? am I just to impatient? input would be nice. thanks

 

[poseygrace]

If the damage gets too severe, I would move the meanie. But I would try to give it a few days to see if they sort it out on their own. They are "teens" after all, maybe it's hormonal!

Since they are coming into their own, and their sizes and personalities are coming out, they are probably just trying to figure out pecking order.

 

[btdupree]

I'm experiencing the SAME thing right now! I have 4 that have been together since the summer & started laying in December. I get 2-3 eggs a day. Then, I started noticing some bald patches on one chicken, then a second, then a third. I separated the only one without feathers missing. Then, I noticed the pecking from one of the remaining three! I separated her in with the first (BIG mama). The two left in the coop have bloody tails & I want them to heal. But, Big Mama started attacking the other chicken who was separated with her. So, I had to put her back in the coop this morning. Unfortunately, the pecking started up almost immediately with the returned chicken. Big Mama remains isolated, but I fear the others are going to get pecked on pretty bad & not have a chance to heal. Is this normal? What else can I do. I don't want to get rid of any of them. I'm going to get more water & feeding options. Any recommendations for toys? Change the feed? Thanks How did it work out for yours?