Protein for chickens...

[Intheswamp]

Hmmm, in an earlier thread discussing the issue the OP states that both feather picking and eating is occurring. It was also stated that these RIRs were acquired at 11-12 weeks of age from a much larger flock. From what I could read it sounded like the larger flock showed evident feather picking going on. Could it be that these birds learned the bad habit from previously being crowded and just can't shake that habit even though they are in a possibly better environment? Maybe they're chicken psychopaths?...seriously. Or, could the large flock have been infected with the mites that chickengeorgeto mentioned and the RIRs brought it to their new home? centrarchid's recomendatin of dust bathing makes good sense.

Note below where they separated some of the chickens out to a different coop/run and they are "doing well".

But, without information on the coop/run setup it's a shot in the dark, I think...

Here's the post from 6/7/16:

Got our RIR hens from a farmer when they were between 9 and 11 weeks old. They had been with many other hens of all ages and were all missing tail feathers. We were very new to chicken raising so we didn't know this might be a problem. That was October 2015. It is now May 2016. They are all wonderful layers. However, I cannot control the feather picking amongst them. We first tried pinless peepers --- they learned to get around them so eventually we took them back off. I am now using Blu-Kote whenever there is a bad episode. They all look like nearly tail-less wonders. There is not a single hen that does not do this to other hens either. We separated out 2 of the biggest offenders in (another coop and run we built for them). Then separated out 2 others that we also main outcasts and picked on and built an additional coop and run for them). Those four are doing well. We only have a total of 10 hens -- so six are left in the main coop with full yard access during the day. They have lots of oyster shell and also I have added a bowl of "feather fixer - high protein" within the coop along with their regular food. Nothing is working. I notice around town everyone else seems to have fully feathered chickens of all varieties living together. Ours look like a weed whacker got to their tail ends. I only have big worries when they pull a feather on somebody that bleeds -- then I treat immediately. Any other suggestions here -- and not I am not ready to part with any of my girls.

 

[lazy gardener]

When you say full yard access, are you talking about access to your yard, or to a chicken run? If it is a chicken run, is there any grass growing in it, or have they removed all the grass? If it's bare soil, you might work on getting a deep litter established. This will draw lots of beneficial insects to the area, as well as keeping a healthy soil with healthy micro-organisms and fungi to populate their guts for better absorption of the nutrients they are eating. You might consider switching them to fermented feed. It's a long shot, but... if they are in a run, by providing deep litter, a few hay bales, a swing and a few other stress busters, you might get a handle on it. Have you yet provided details about the exact dimensions of your coop and your run? Any windows? What do you have for ventilation? Most feather picking occurs on the roost IME, tell us about your roost and nest box set ups. If you can't get the problem solved by changing your set up, you may need to cull and start over with a different breed. But don't do so until you have your set up assessed and problem solved.