Hens ganging up on one hen and pecking her!

[phy]

Hi all!
I have 6 hens (3 Black Australorps, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 1 Golden Comet), and the Golden Comet is constantly pecked by the others. Because of this, she has no tail feathers, and sometimes her butt is bloody. Is there any way I can prevent my hens from pecking her? All of the hens were bought as chicks, and raised together. Thanks so much!

 

[Judy]

The most effective way of handling this is identifying a "lead bully" and removing her for a week or two. You may have to remove the injured ont, though, to prevent her getting pecked to death.

Meanwhile, you should probably consider whether there is something in their environment you could alter. You could go to the FAQ page and scroll down to the links to threads about pecking and feather picking. Common causes are too little space and too little protein in the diet.

 

[man-of-steel78]

Giving them more range time in the yard will certainly help. Changing their diet will also help discourage this.

 

[Mahonri]

Or do like I had to do. Keep them away from each other completely in separate pens / coops. I re homed most of the offenders and put one in another pen. Now the pecked on EE is doing fine and laying almost everyday.

 

[HappyChickenLover]

I just flick the ones that pick on the hen neck with my finger untill they realize it sucks to get attacked, but if they are too rough, you should notice a leader who starts the trouble... It might start picking on another hen.