Tail feathers pecked out

[sugarhousehens]

New owners worried about one of our hens. Our 6 hens hatched May 1st. We didn't have any pecking issues when they were in the brooder through last week. I came home from work and our ameraucana's tail feathers were all pecked out. She was bleeding on both sides below the area where the tail feathers were. Per some BYC posts, I put some neosporin on it but the other hens keep pecking at her. She is definitely the smallest hen and I wonder if that has something to do with it. We have also tried adding more protein in to their diet to see if that helps but we haven't seen a change in behavior pattern. Plenty of space in the run (we built it to hold 15 hens) so crowding should be the issue.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tammye]

shake up there pecking order some. take top bird out of the group for a few days. also if she has any blood spots on her she has to be removed from the flock until she is cleaned up, they will peck a hen to death if they see blood. Could you put a hen apron on her, might help, difficult to stop. I set out separate feed and water so my weak one can eat otherwise they stop her from getting to the food too.

 

[Engteacher]

When all else failed, we have used pinless peepers on our birds when they have shown this tail pecking behavior. After a month, we remove the peepers and all returns to normal.

 

[Egg Rookie 2010]

Im having some sort of similar problem (I think) and just looked up those Peepers things...they look SCARY to put on! I wonder too if it will cause any problems if it is hooooooot. Any difficulty breathing?