Head Feathers All Plucked Out

Henny Loggins

In the Brooder
8 Years
Jun 1, 2011
33
0
34
I went back to feed my flock today and one of my girls had her entire head of feathers plucked out and she was lying on the ground in pain. She's usually really skittish and she let me just pick her right up. She doesn't look good. I know my girls have a pecking order, but I've never seen them be overly aggressive. There is also a rooster in the pack. What could cause this sudden turn? Also, do I separate her? I know she's older than the rest and she's smaller. The only way I can separate is to keep her in a crate like thing until she heals.

Suggestions! Thanks
 
Was she acting weird before they pecked her head, because sometimes when a chicken is sick they'll "take out the weak link"?
 
Was she acting weird before they pecked her head, because sometimes when a chicken is sick they'll "take out the weak link"?

She seems to have gone broody over the last few weeks. I've never had a hen go broody before, but she would sit on all the eggs and sleep on them sometimes. Would that piss off the other ladies & the roo?
 
Well smaller hens are usually a tad more aggressive and if she went broody she may have gotten irritable. The bigger hens wouldn't tolerate her "cocky" broody sounds. I would put her in a nestbox but section it off from the other hens and let her heal while incubating the eggs. (if you want chicks) The other thing is taking her inside and rubbing a very light layer of neosporin on the raw spots until it heals and the feathers grow back. However if she's incubating and in a few weeks you can't take her off for very long without killing the chicks to be so I'd just give her food, water, and neosporin and let her heal in there.
 

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