Half plucked feathers?

[Hasbeth]

From right when we first got our hens, there has been one that "plucks" the feathers of the other three. The difference between this plucking and regular plucking is that only half the feather gets plucked. So the three that get plucked by the other hen are left with a white sort of fluffy back/rear.

Here is a photo of one "plucked" hen and the instigator:


I was just wondering if this was weird or whether there was something I could do to prevent it? Besides curing boredom, of course, but it just seems to be the one hen that does it?

I've been wondering about this for a while and thought it could be a dominance thing.

 

[Judy]

You could try increasing their protein, especially animal protein. But that looks like what is usually called a production red, and frankly, they tend to have behavior issues. I'll give you some links on feather picking.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/517547/peepers-removed-and-no-feather-picking-d/0_20#post_6586027

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/697052/i-think-i-found-a-miracle-cure-for-feather-picking/0_20

 

[Hasbeth]

Yeah we have given them more protein, and yeah we got them from an egg production farm that was closing down in my area