I have a hen who picks one feather from others.

[Pastor Mike]

Is her actions just the "Pecking order"? None of the hens have bare spots. She just goes up and pulls a feather like pulling a girls hair. They are all good chickens and have been very well socialized by my daughter who spends several hours pure day with them. They are almost 12 weeks old. Any thoughts?

 

[easttxchick]

Odds are, she's just trying to establish herself as the big cheese.
Is she eating the feathers?

 

[Pastor Mike]

Nope . Just makes them squawk and moves on.

 

[easttxchick]

Sounds like typical "alpha hen" behavior.
If she gets too out of control, just put her by herself for a day or two-that will knock her down in the pecking order and it should stop-for a while, anyway.

 

[gingerpeach22]

I too had two EE hens whose hobby was to walk up to another bird and yank out a feather. Then they would make the rounds to the other hens and repeat the deed. They did this often - daily; several times a day. All the hens submitted and didn't move or fight back. Sometime, if they'd pulled a small fluffy feather, they'd eat it so I increased their protein. But this went on for months. I gave them away to someone local who wanted them and who says they are doing well with her own hens. Now, all I have in the coop are doing fine. They do the normal whack on the head if a disliked bird is close by food, but no real feather pulling at all.

 

[Pastor Mike]

Thank you everyone.