One chicken plucking and, I think, eating other's feathers

[polkadot]

Hello! This is my first post. Sorry if this is covered in depth elsewhere -- I searched through some of the feather pecking threads but got a little overwhelmed before I found an answer that suits this situation.

We have four adopted chickens formerly from a dysfunctional flock. They were totally pecked over with significant bald spots, and a bit traumatized. They calmed down and settled in, and after a quarantine period we have mostly successfully merged them with our six pullets, who are about 5-6 months old.

Here's the problem -- three of the four adopted chickens are still pecked over. There may be some molting going on with a couple of them, but one looks significantly worse some days, and another of them is clearly trying to grow back feathers, but they keep getting pecked off. I occasionally find her bleeding, even.

I'm almost sure it's an issue of one chicken named Nelly, an Americauna who is probably 1-2 years old, pecking the others. I've seen her pecking at the others and I think eating the feathers, especially the one I find bleeding sometimes. She's kind of a neurotic type, and it seems to be habit. We move their fence around to different spots so they get plenty of grass and weeds, as well as bugs and worms. I put Avia Charge in their water, and they get a high protein layer mix. I know I could do more in the protein department and sometimes I do, but I kind of think their diet is fine, and it's this chicken who has a problem. I want to get this solved before winter sets in hard, as they will be confined in the cold for a long Alaska winter, when I think the pecking could get out of control and spread to the younger chickens.

Any ideas? Does Nelly need to be culled?

 

[terryg]

Once skin shows, the hens keep pecking, and once they learn to eat feathers it's hard to get them to stop. But it's not unfixable! If there's blood, separate the hen to let her heal (or, I once taped on a duct tape bandage. Worked!) Use blu-kote on the exposed skin to darken it. Make sure that their coop has enough room, space and resources. Crowding exacerbates this problem. I find that an outside roost helps. Sometimes the pecking occurs while going to sleep at night, so make sure they have enough room there, too. I have more on my blog:
http://hencam.com/faq/bare-butts-feather-loss-and-feather-picking/

 

[Nsampsel]

Chicken saddles may also help. I have a few I could sell depending on how big your hens are. My saddles are new & most have never even been on a chicken. I did try a couple on my girls, but it was around 100F + at the time & they decided they were NOT going to wear them. They had them on less than 2 minutes...LOL Sounds like you would have better luck with them in Alaska where weather is much cooler. The saddle has loops of elastic that go around the hen's wings & the "saddle" part covers her from mid-wing to tail over her back to keep other hens & over-jealous roos from pulling her feathers out & may even keep her from pulling her OWN feathers out.