Hens pecked to skin

[darmstrong1]

I have six hens total and 2 of them aren't pecked and the other four are. I've seen them being attacked and it is very aggressive. Some of the pecked hens are showing very red skin on their shoulders and one is even losing a bit of feathers under one wing. Is there anything I can put on them to stop this? Separating them would severely disrupt our schedule here, but I'm worried about winter coming and that skin being exposed to the extreme cold we get here. Any help appreciated!

 

[nuthatched]

Pinless peepers may help the others not pick her.
Maybe more space and places to escape?
More roost space

 

[darmstrong1]

Thanks for the input. I've never heard of pinless peepers before. Did a little research and it looks like that will work, I'll try them. Love the message below your answer by the way!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Any photos of your set up? What are you feeding them? Boredom and protein % are two possible contributing factors.

 

[darmstrong1]

Too much protein, or too little? I feed them fermented grains (peas, wheat, barley or oats), flax seeds, sesame seeds, kelp, fresh vegetables, meal worms (still working on building my worms population up so not a lot of these at present). Other treats: sprouted peas or lentils or wheat.
Don't know if this might be related, but the eggs are also whitish when I get them, but I can't seem to find any more than one a day. I recently found 30 in a pile in my raspberries, but can't find any more. There aren't that many places to hide, though! I have some detectives coming over to help make sure I'm not missing anything.
Otherwise they seem pretty happy. We haven't had many bugs this year, so they may be low in protein. They're very frustrated as of yesterday as I'm planting the dirt field they've been digging in with chicken forage seeds and have to keep them off it for a while. Thanks for your reply!

 

[darmstrong1]

I have an omlet coop and six foot run for the nighttime, but they have about 1/4 acre inside our yard they roam in. Unfortunately, not a lot of of plant life yet.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Too much protein, or too little? I feed them fermented grains (peas, wheat, barley or oats), flax seeds, sesame seeds, kelp, fresh vegetables, meal worms (still working on building my worms population up so not a lot of these at present). Other treats: sprouted peas or lentils or wheat.
We haven't had many bugs this year, so they may be low in protein.

Too little protein can be a contributing factor. Is that the entire diet or are those their snacks/treats? What's the protein % in your diet? If you're not certain, you're possibly too low on protein, and they may be diluting it even further with whatever they find free ranging.