hen picking at another hen??

[kumokumo]

hi, my oldest hen (tangerine) has always been a bit of a weirdo. she came from the slaughterhouse, so i expected her to have some loose screws, but she’s been doing this for about a year now. she pecks at the other hens. not like in a pecking order way, when she’s asserting dominance, but like she’s eating something off of them. she’s always kind of done this, but my other hens never do this, only if there’s obviously something in another hens feathers such as food, dirt, etc. the other hens are just standing around and tangerine looooves to take little nibbles off of them (even if there doesn’t seem to be anything there?). it doesn’t cause any bleeding; it’s a very gentle peck. does anyone else’s hen do this??? is this normal?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

If it’s gentle peck she is trying to preen the others. It’s a sign of affection actually.

 

[kumokumo]

If it’s gentle peck she is trying to preen the others. It’s a sign of affection actually.

really?? she’s the meanest out of all of them; she’s been banished from the roosts due to her pecking the others and now we’re figuring out how to build a special vip roost for her only since she can’t get along. i always thought she saw something yummy and wanted a bite, but i guess she’s sweeter than she seems. thanks for the info !!

 

[FrostRanger]

Is she pulling feathers out? Factory farmed birds are packed together tightly and fed the bare minimum amount of protein so them having issues with feather picking isn't unusual. I'd feed a 20% feed if you don't already and invest in pinless peepers for her if she is indeed pulling feathers

 

[kumokumo]

Is she pulling feathers out? Factory farmed birds are packed together tightly and fed the bare minimum amount of protein so them having issues with feather picking isn't unusual. I'd feed a 20% feed if you don't already and invest in pinless peepers for her if she is indeed pulling feathers

she’s not pulling any feathers- like i’ve said, it’s a very gentle peck. she’s been out of the slaughterhouse for over a year now, and we made sure she was assimilated into her new life slowly and with lots of supervision. at first, she was very defensive with the other chickens (probably because she was used to fighting for food with others) but she’s toned down. part of it might be her personality too, she’s more dominant and slightly bigger and a LOT heavier than the rest of her fellow hens. she’s a bit of a meanie still, but she’s not pulling feathers or drawing blood. if she gets too aggressive, i usually just shoo her away and she gets distracted with something else easily so i don’t think she’s malicious. i did, at one point, considered culling her or rehoming her because of how much she bullied the others (they were so scared of her and she would chase them for months) but after a very slow process, she got used to the rest of her flock.

 

[FrostRanger]

Hmm, odd. Either she's preening or it's just a weird quirk of hers. As long as she's doing no harm, I'd let it fly

 

[kumokumo]

Hmm, odd. Either she's preening or it's just a weird quirk of hers. As long as she's doing no harm, I'd let it fly

she looks like she’s preening, but i’d totally believe if it was just a weird quirk she does. i don’t know if that hen has any affection in her heart (not to be rude, but she really loves being the queen and having everything to herself) and ill catch her gently pecking the other hens thigh feathers or butt feathers. maybe she’s just curious?