Hen Mounting other hen and ripping off neck feathers.

[PandoraChick]

Hello everyone. We are starting to have our first behavior problem in over a year.
I noticed that a bunch of my EE hens were missing there ear tufts and beards a few weeks ago. Though they look hideous without them, there were no actually bloody wounds, just missing fluff/feathers. We added an extra roost in the coop hoping that would solve the problem and give them extra places to choose/get away from the instigators.

Now, one of my favorite EE hens Lucy is missing the feathers off the back of her neck
We used to have a Rooster but he became way to aggressive and started attacking our daughter, so off with his head it was. This was about 6months ago and we have not had any other roosters.

Today I witnessed with my own eyes, my black sex link Hen mount Lucy just like a Rooster would...She looked to be mating with her. So this answers the question of what happened to Lucy's neck feathers..the thing is, our Rooster never did that much damage to our girls...a few feathers maybe, but not plucked bald like this.

Is this behavior becasue there is no Rooster? Is there anyhting I can do to stop it? Leana the BSL hen is not particularly high in the pecking order so this kind of surprises me. When I caught her doing this earlier, I snatched her up and put her back in the coop while everyone else is out free ranging.

 

[PSJ]

I've heard of hens behaving like this when there isn't a rooster. I know you said she isn't high in the pecking order, but is there any way you could remove her from rest of the flock to knock her down in the pecking order? Btw...good for you for getting rid of the aggressive roo. Too many people put up with that kind of behavior.

 

[PandoraChick]

I may have to separate her for awhile..poor Lucy is starting to look like a Turken..and she was one of the prettiest of the EE's.
It was not a hard decision after the Roo went after our daughter...I could put up with a lot myself, but go after my daughter and thats it. Besides, we never even wanted a Roo, but did our best to keep him...It started when he turned 6-7 months old and got progressively worse. He came in as a RR pullet from Cackle, LOL.

 

[PandoraChick]

Well it is getting out of control now. I went out to the coop to find hundreds of feathers everywhere. Now someone is ripping out neck feather/mounting my partridge rock! I dont know what the deal is with the girls. I have some investigative work to find out who and what is doing this. Little pecking here and there fine..but they are ripping TONS of feathers out..At first I thought someone had been eaten :/

 

[PSJ]

Oh no!!! Hopefully you can find out which one is doing it and separate her from the rest

 

[cacoops]

we are experiencing the same thing. i am devastated at the appearance of our chickens. i have even made saddle blankets for them because they are bare. and they have bare bottoms. it all started at three weeks with the black sex link and she continues to bully. they are a year old now. i have done everything, spraying her with a water bottle, filling balls with meal worms to entertain her,more protein, bigger run and most of the time they have an acre of fenced in yard to roam, lighting is perfect. we have been playing the roll as a rooster making sure she knows who's boss.she is relentless and now everyone is crazy. i feel horrible.i don't know what else to do. we got one rooster out of 12 and we gave him to a friend the first time we heard him cockadoodledoo. sorry i cant help either. i feel like I'm not getting answers anywhere. i feel like its out of control. i see other peoples chickens and they are so beautiful. please if you find out anything that works let me know . i will keep searching.

 

[SF411chicks]

Did you ever find a solution to this? I have a hen that is mounting and pulling feathers from the rest of the girls.

 

[Kev]

Can you get pictures or video of this?

In all the years, I have never seen a hen mount another. This issue comes up sometimes, but never any pictures or videos...

 

[Somiskel]

I just got rid of my roosters that I had and now one of the Hens that grew up with the roosters is mounting 2 of the other Hens at the bottom of the pecking order and it's really sad because while she is doing it, all the other Hens run up and start pecking the on the head of the Hen who is being mounted. What can I do to stop this? All the hens except for 3 (I have 7) are missing all their feather on their bottoms and above their tail as well

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Can you get pictures or video of this?

In all the years, I have never seen a hen mount another. This issue comes up sometimes, but never any pictures or videos...

It happens with cows that go a long time without seeing bulls too, and geese without ganders.

Not sure what can be done about it, would suggest getting a nice rooster, like a silkie or something.