What Happened to my Poor Boy?

[AHDCST]

When I went out to lay my eyes on each member of my flock, I was dismayed to see the tail feathers of my Barred Old English were bloody. I picked him up and looked but couldn't really see anything. Later in the morning I went out to check on him again and the 2 hens were picking, pecking and pulling on his tail feathers! I put him in a separate pen till I could look closer. With my husband's assistance I was able to get a good look. The poor fella has had 5 or 6 tail feathers ripped out! The base of his tail was covered in blood and at the openings of the feathers he was dripping a slow steady trickle of blood. I was able to use warm water to clean the blood away and pressure along with the heat stopped the slow amount of bleeding. I put him back in with his girls because he was throwing himself against the sides of the pen trying to get back to his girls! Anybody have any idea what could have happened? He has only been here for 2 weeks. His tail feathers were almost chewed off when he got here(he and hens were rescued)but there was not any blood till today. I just can't think of anything that would pull them clean out! He also has a couple of broken feathers but the mystery is the missing feathers. There aren't any on the floor of the pen, they have just disappeared! Could the hens have done this to him? Would they pull them out completely and eat them? If yes what do I need to add to their diet to keep them from harming each other? Thanks for the patience I know this was a long read!

 

[Chicken George]

Probally he was trying 2 mess with the pecking order and got punished. Or another chicken tried to move up and become dominant.

 

[Chop33]

Wow! Sorry to here about that! I don't know much but I was told if they are eating feathers that are needing protien. An old farmer told me to boil some eggs and give to them. They are high in protien! Maybe this will help!