Head hen pecking feathers out of roo

[rcentner]

I noticed over the last few weeks that my roo is missing feathers below his waddles, I thought nothing of it. I have seen on a few occasions my head hen peck at his neck and pull out a feather or 2. Today I notice blood on my roo around where the feathers are missing. I have read about chickens and how they love to peck at red, but my head hen is the only one doing it and he lets her. He made a little noise, but not defending himself. I think they are bored, they have been in their run all the time now as my DH thinks it is unsafe to let them out as it will attract predators he says. We have had bear problems and want to avoid coyote problems. I don't think letting them out will attract them anymore than them being in the run, but DH is concvinced. I am gonna try to convince him to let them out tomorrow when we will be around all day. So...should I try to separate the roo cause of the blood on his feathers?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I had the same thing happen. I separated the rooster for two days while he healed up a bit, put him back in, and he has been fine since. He ws not bloody, just bare. This was not the head rooster but was the second in charge. They were in a molt and I think the blood in the new feathers coming in had something to do with it.

At the time, I had about 20 chickens in an 8 x 12 coop and 12 x 32 run, so they should have had plenty of room.