Pecking feathers on chest and head. Help!

[landonschickens]

We have 8 chickens total with 1 jersey giant that is the top chicken she is pecking at the chest feathers of three of the lower pecking order chickens along with the head feathers. She has one to the point where there are no feathers left on her head it is just all red skin and so I have removed her. We built them a bigger coup this year so they have enough room and they have a run that is 8x10 that is always accessible any other ideas or is this just normal. Thanks for all ideas. Also they have one trough style feeder someone mentioned to me perhaps we needed two of those.

 

[Odelia]

If I knew which bird was the problem I would get rid of her. I don't have space on my property for mean birds. Otherwise you could try giving them things to keep them busy. For example you can hang cabbage for them. Put scratch in a small plastic bottle with a few holes so that they have to move it around to get the treat out. Often a board bird is a naughty bird. Yes having a second feeder can help. Good Luck!

 

[iwiw60]

We have 8 chickens total with 1 jersey giant that is the top chicken she is pecking at the chest feathers of three of the lower pecking order chickens along with the head feathers. She has one to the point where there are no feathers left on her head it is just all red skin and so I have removed her. We built them a bigger coup this year so they have enough room and they have a run that is 8x10 that is always accessible any other ideas or is this just normal. Thanks for all ideas. Also they have one trough style feeder someone mentioned to me perhaps we needed two of those.

You said "...and so I have removed her." Which one did you remove? I certainly hope it was the JG!!

 

[landonschickens]

No I took the one that was getting picked on out since I was worried that she would get picked on by the others as well.

 

[landonschickens]

Is this common of a Jersey's Giant or is it just this one? Does anyone know as this is the only one that we have.

 

[iwiw60]

No I took the one that was getting picked on out since I was worried that she would get picked on by the others as well.

Sorry, I was typing in a half-coma early this a.m....needed more coffee!!

Usually what you should do is to remove the bully from the group. This does two things...1) it takes the aggressor away from the rest of the flock, and 2) it is a punishment of sorts for the bully to be separated. Regarding your pecked on hen, after cleaning it thoroughly with Betadine, spray it with BluKote so the others don't see "red" .. yes, chickens can see color, and red is their fav! This way she won't feel like she is being punished, poor little thing. If the other hens DO peck at her then I'd say yes she should be moved to a sick crate so she can heal....so glad I'm awake now!

 

[landonschickens]

Thanks for your thoughts. We are going to remove the Jersey Giant to see if this helps we noticed today that a second chicken is bare on her chest in a circle. So we will try this and see how it goes.