Pecking order and stress issues

[Geckochick]

I have a flock of 27. One rooster and 26 hens. We have had a lot of issues recently, so I am hopeful for help brainstorming how to fix the problems.

In the late Spring, we did a lot of ground work down by the coop (tractors, tilling, noise). That lead to some stress and rooster issues. We almost culled our sweet roo because he turned into a scary guy overnight. But, he has since calmed, and is fine with everyone except DH, who is managing the problem.

Shortly after that, we had construction going on in the barn, which houses the coop. Constant noise and stress. Egg production went down, not surprisingly, and the girls seemed a little stressed.

We have always had one poor girl who is at the bottom of the pecking order. She has never really recovered from a small moult, and it is evident that others are eating her feathers (broken, vs whole feathers falling out). Since all the above chaos, it has gone to an extreme. She cannot even move out of the nesting box or similar area, really without one of the bullies jumping at her. And, now they seem to be targeting a few others. And of course, true to form, the two main bullies are gorgeous.... Full feathers, plump, happy looking chickens.

I cannot free range right now, because we do a lot of veggie gardens, and we are now hesitant to free range the rooster anyway after his issues in the early spring. But, they have a large coop, a bigger run, and we have two tractors we put some in for daytime pseudo-free-ranging if we are going to be home.

There is no evidence of parasites, but I have a a few birds now who are showing the evidence of the feather eating. But, egg production is getting back up to normal now, and they are all eating fine (except the most bullied girl, who I want to bring indoors-- I am sure this will not help her plight though....).

So, questions:

1. Are they missing something in their diet?
2. Is this boredom and stress reaction because of all the chaos and they cannot free range?
3. I have read about locking up the highers in the pecking order, which I can do. Does this work?

Thanks, in advance.

 

[Den in Penn]

1. Adding protein may help, as it sounds as if they are graduating to feather picking.
2. It could be boredom. If construction has stopped it not stress form that. Distractions may help.
3. Separation of the bullies does usually work. When they return they are distracted trying to get back into the pecking order.

 

[Geckochick]

Thanks for the reply. How long do I pull the bullies out? I plan on penning them within the coop. Do I wait until feathers are looking better?

 

[Den in Penn]

Separate for a week to ten days. Total separation where they can't see or hear each other works best. The idea is to allow the rest of the flock to form an new order. If they can see and to a lesser extent hear each other, they all remember better who is where in the order.

 

[Geckochick]

Ah, ok. So in a pen separate from the rest, unlike when we hospitalize a bird in a crate within the coop. Thank you very much!