Why is my hen pecking my rooster

[henplusrooster]

My rooster is a polish rooster and my black austrolorp hen is pecking his head and pulling the feathers out. She has also pecked his tail feathers and his tail is bleeding. Why is she acting this way? It is late September where I'm at if that helps with anything

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Many birds will peck the odd looking feathers of Polish and Silkies.

Often with "what is that" look on their face.

Make sure you've got good feed out with appropriate protein, and are not lighting too much (both of which I doubt from your comments).

You may have to remove the polish rooster from her presence, or vice versa. Some never seem to be able to resist pulling the "odd" plummage.

LofMc

 

[azygous]

Polish chickens often get this sort of abuse in flocks where they're the minority. The head crest is just too much to resist.

On top of that, chickens have a habit of fixating on the single different thing and it can become an obsession. If the abuse continues, one thing you can try is hanging objects similar to the obsession around the run to diffuse the attraction. Not saying it will work in your case, but I've had luck with this strategy in my own flock when I need to put pinless peepers on an individual that is picking feathers. I toss a hand full of peepers around the run as I'm returning the chicken wearing peepers for the first time. The chickens have their attention divided among all the peepers lying about and they don't pay as much attention to the chicken actually wearing them. When I don't divert attention in this way, the new peeper wearer gets attacked.

You can try feather dusters or those nylon shower puffs they sell at Walmart. The resemble a Polish puff. Or you can put pinless peepers on the hen who's doing the picking.