Polish crest pecked

[BaldRooster]

First post, all to frequent post reader. We have 1 WC polish that came with our order of 17 laying hens, now 11 weeks. Everything was fine until last week, we noticed it looked as though she had been pecked a bit, we seperated her from the rest of the girls( RIR,Red stars, Black stars, White leghorns) rinsed the little bit of blood off, applied a bluecoat look alike. We keep her seperated during the day and put her back with the girls after dark, then she is seperate again during daylight hours. We attempted to let her roam with the others for a day but someone had taken after her again, no blood but now no feathers. While seperated during the day she was housed in a large chain link dog run where the other girls roam around frequently. So back to the original plan I have read several posts about his but had a couple of questions only being 11 weeks into the chicken world. BTW myself and the kids are loving it!
1. Is it common for this behavior to start after so long, her head was fully feathered?
2.Now that her head looks more like a hedgehog (like long pin feathers) how long will it take for her to feather out again, to give it one more attempt @ living with the rest of the girls? Mainly need to know whether or not I need to begin Building her something for the colder months comming soon Eastern Idaho

 

[chickenzoo]

I'd start building, hehe. Polish are often picked on, especially by larger breeds. That topknot just looks like a big fuzzy chicken toy. Best Wishes

 

[france]

We had a problem with the bigger hens picking on just one of our polish. Our hens were unable to be out much while we finished the run so they got bored in the coop. Once they got outside they stopped the pecking. I am hoping they do not pick up the habit again come winter. If yours are still pecking outside I would guess you will have to figure out a way to keep her on her own or with a non pecking buddy.

 

[BaldRooster]

I guess I will start the building, all of the pecking has been done since they have been outside, they have had free range the yard for over a month only going in the coop at dark and out again early morning. There are not windows in the coop yet so it is dark in there from when we shut the door till we let them know it is morning. All of them are just waking up when we give them light. We tried putting one of the other hens in there for her in the daytime but I guess we were either selecting the wrong ones or she is just destined to solitude. May have to look for a companion that looks as goofy as her
BTW: Thank you for your responses!