I have 4 - 13 month old barred rock hens in a 80 sq ft run and 72 sq ft coop. There were originally 6, 5 hens, 1 rooster. The rooster was mean and killed one of the hens 4 weeks ago plus badly injured 2 more. The rooster was taken care of 3 weeks ago. At that point, 1 hen was normal, one had a bare back and the other 2 had open wounds particularly on their backs and around their tails. Every night for the last week or so when we close the coop for the night it is a battle as to who can knock someone else off the roost. The normal hen is plucking everyone elses' feathers and the bare back goes after the chief plucker. Is this normal? There was some plucking going on before the other hen was killed but we thought it was stress caused by the rooster.
I have 10 more hens (9 reds, 1 brahma bantam) and a black bantam cochin rooster that are two years old, they get the same feed and everything. They all look and act normal.
I have 10 more hens (9 reds, 1 brahma bantam) and a black bantam cochin rooster that are two years old, they get the same feed and everything. They all look and act normal.
