Hen pulling feathers

[hholzschu]

I have a hen that likes to pull feathers out on the other birds. My rooster doesn't even have tail feathers because of her. She's a great layer and I don't want to get rid of her. So here's my question...do I pull her out and single her out for a while and let the others heal or do I pull out the ones missing feathers and give them a chance to heal. I think they will heal if she's out of the picture for a week or two. Any suggestions are helpful. Thanks

 

[6RandomBrownLayers]

I think that pecking at other chickens and pulling their feathers out can be a sign of boredom or the chicken is just aggressive. If they are in a confined space boredom is a possibility and if you put something that they can peck at, I have heard of people using heads of lettuce and I used a "Pecker Wrecker" from my agway as something to keep them from getting bored, that might help. If she is being aggressive it might help to remove her from the rest of the flock for a period of time (not sure exactly how long) so she is at the bottom of the pecking order when she comes back. I have never had this issue to my knowledge so maybe someone else with more experience can help more.