HELP feather picking

[Chicken Rob]

i have 18 RIR hens. all but one has back feathers picked down to skin . one has a open wound now . could the one be a roo , looks like hen short tail feathers . any advice on what i should do , dont want them eating each other . there coop is 9by9 . with 15by 8 run . how should i care for the one wounded . got me so worried now . any advice please ??!!!

 

[Chicken Rob]

ohh also the one with back feathers ok has no feathers on butt and very red butt. could this be roo , i will try to get pic

 

[ranchhand]

Could be the roo, but it's doubtful with so many hens for one roo. They might not be getting enough protein in their diet. Or it could be crowding, depending upon how long they have been cooped up.

What do you feed them, how often, have they been out and about lately, are they laying, there are many variables. The lack of protein is what I would consider first.

 

[Chicken Rob]

i feed them blue seal layer pellets . they go out every morning at 6 till 7 at nite . i just put wounded hen in seperate cage she is not liking that at all. i just did notice them picking at back and butts of each other , they ate feather just like it was candy . how do i give them more protien ?

 

[hensonly]

Mine have exactly the same thing - some bare butts, some bare backs, not always on the same hens. But I have two roos for 11 hens (not on purpose - anyone want a roo??).

However, for protein you can give scrambled eggs (BOY do mine love that!!!), leftover meat (BOY oh BOY !!!) oatmeal, peanut butter, shelled unsalted peanuts, black oil sunflower seeds. Probably other stuff, too, but those are what I used to stop the feather picking, and while they haven't grown the feathers back, I haven't had to isolate anyone, so they seem to have stopped picking each other. Fingers crossed!