Why????

Are they all new to each other? If so, they may be establishing pecking order. Do they have plenty of space? Sometimes chickens just do things that don't make sense to us humans. They're chickens, not little feathered people.

 

wow, did you go through the list of -- stress, crowding, hungry, etc? I have also heard that boredom can cause them to go after each other. Are they new to each other and still sorting out the pecking order? Has something changed lately, and they are adjusting -- Like new coop, added chickens or the like? Is it all of them or just one particularly aggressive chicken?

If you have an agressive chicken, maybe isolate her and see if the others settle down.

There are things that can be attached to beaks to prevent pecking each other.. I think they have goofy names like 'peckless peepers" etc. I will check back to see if you have gotten an answer, and if not---maybe I can remember where I saw the stuff. (never have used so I'm not sure about how effective they would be)... If no obvious Aha answer appears, I will come back to post some links if I can find the things.

 

They are doing this because it is their normal behavior. Chickens are always jostling to improve their position in the pecking order. Remember that they are little feathered dinosaurs.

 

Chickens pick at each others heads as part of their normal behavior.... especially around feed dishes. Top hens eat first, and they will always reinforce this even if the feeder is two feet wide.