Help! My Hen is Being Pecked!

[danielle2003]

Hi all, I have 4 Australorps, and lately, one of them is really being picked on a lot.....especially by one certain chicken. She mostly pecks her during the evening when they roost. As they like to "go to bed" early, while its still light out, they just sit there, and since she has noting to do, she will start picking at my poor girl's neck! What's weird is that she will pick off the top of the feathers, yet leave the root of the feather still in. She is SO mean! My chickens have been roosting outside for some reason, so I have been taking the mean one, and putting her up in the coop. I don;t know what else to do! I get up early, so she doesn't wait in there too long in the morning. What do I do with my poor chicken's broken feathers? With the tips still in, new ones won't grow until their next molt, and she looks kind of ugly right now. Thanks for the advice! I posted some pictures so you know the damage my mean hen has done!

 

[Cassandra Lana]

You just have to wait for your birds feathers to molt. It’s called broken shafts . There’s nothing you can do that I know about

 

[aart]

Nothing to do about the broken feather, unless you want to pluck them out so new ones will grow.
The pecking behavior may now be a habit, hard to break-especially if the pecked bird allows it, but it's often caused by crowding and/or diet.

How big is coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help immensely here.

What all and how exactly are you feeding?

 

[danielle2003]

Nothing to do about the broken feather, unless you want to pluck them out so new ones will grow.
The pecking behavior may now be a habit, hard to break-especially if the pecked bird allows it, but it's often caused by crowding and/or diet.

How big is coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help immensely here.

What all and how exactly are you feeding?

The run is 10x10. I think that's enough room for only 4 chickens. Plus, I let them out for about 5 hours to free range almost every day. I leave a feeder hanging all day with crumble so that they have full access to it all day.