My hen is peking all the others ( images included)

[Poultry Kitten]

Age in months or years is needed please.

It's molting time for many and I see new feathers growing in.

If over a year old they could be molting.

They are about a year and a half but one has a bit of blood where they are losing feathers.

 

[21hens-incharge]

They are about a year and a half but one has a bit of blood where they are losing feathers.

My bet is on molting. Growing feathers is uncomfortable and can increase scratching.

 

[My Three Chicks]

How much space do you have for them? Not having enough space can lead to pecking and feather plucking.

 

[BDutch]

A hen that is high in the pecking will peck on the head to let the other chickens know to back off.
This looks more like feather pecking and is maybe a stress problem (too little space and hiding places) or maybe caused by unbalanced feed.
I would seperate the pecker so the other two can heal and look for some info about required space.

General advice for stressless chickens: 4m2 run space each for normal sized chickens, from sunrise till roost time. Free ranging a few hours each days helps but is probably not enough since the omlet coop and run are rather small.
Please tell us more about the space /lock up time and the feed they get If you like further help.

 

[BDutch]

I think it is only happening in the coop at night but all of those ideas sound awesome thanks so much.

At night chickens don’t peck. But in the morning after sunrise the coop is too small to stay inside. An automatic pop door could do wonders.

 

[Poultry Kitten]

A hen that is high in the pecking will peck on the head to let the other chickens know to back off.
This looks more like feather pecking and is maybe a stress problem (too little space and hiding places) or maybe caused by unbalanced feed.
I would seperate the pecker so the other two can heal and look for some info about required space.

General advice for stressless chickens: 4m2 run space each for normal sized chickens, from sunrise till roost time. Free ranging a few hours each days helps but is probably not enough since the omlet coop and run are rather small.
Please tell us more about the space /lock up time and the feed they get If you like further help.

I have have 4 hens in a Omlet Cube with 9ft of run. I let them out about 1-2 hours daily to hang out in avian fencing with plenty of room. I feed them Purina Layerna pellets and food scraps and other treats.

 

[BDutch]

I wondered about moult too. But I thought it did look a bit odd for a starting moult. But maybe I’m wrong.
With a second look (enlarging) I think I see new shafts growing

 

[Poultry Kitten]

At night chickens don’t peck. But in the morning after sunrise the coop is too small to stay inside. An automatic pop door could do wonders.

I have an automatic door for them.

 

[Poultry Kitten]

I wondered about moult too. But I thought it did look a bit odd for a starting moult. But maybe I’m wrong.
With a second look (enlarging) I think I see new shafts growing

Yes I do think new feather are growing back by I am afraid that they will just get pecked off again.

 

[BDutch]

I have have 4 hens in a Omlet Cube with 9ft of run. I let them out about 1-2 hours daily to hang out in avian fencing with plenty of room. I feed them Purina Layerna pellets and food scraps and other treats.

Is it possible to spend a little more time with them to see how they behave?
If it really is the head hen who pecks in the chest I would set the pecker apart. But I believe it’s a rather strange spot to peck. Normally feather peckers, peck at the but/tail area (from reading, no experience myself).

Besides that I think 9sqft runspace is not much. Its better to double that to reduce stress. And if you are still suspicious about feather pecking, I would reduce the scraps and treats to max 25% for a while. Maybe this combination will help to eliminate any unwanted pecking other than the normal back off pecking. But bad habits are often not very easy to solve.