Chickens, when kept close together, can resort to cannibalism. If your chickens back is raw and bleeding – it is most likely a hen, and you will probably have a dominant cock in your chicken house. While mounting the hen the cock uses his spurs. If the pullet is to young the damage begins. A male chicken will assert it’s authority on the younger chickens and hens – pullets especially. If the chickens are young and not strong enough, the cock needs to be separated from the younger birds – most likely the are not strong enough to carry the cocks weight.

Damaged hen

Once a cock has drawn blood from a hen – the other chickens will peck at the bleeding spot. You will need to separate the injured hens – away from each other and the cock. Within a few weeks you will be able to put her back with the other chickens and the feathers will grow back. You can put the injured bird in a laying cage for this short time – where it will have time to heal. If you are using chicken nest boxes you will need to have a separate wire enclosure. If you are watching your birds properly everyday you should pick up this problem before any damage is caused – if you are a lazy chicken farmer, and do not look for problems, the damage to your hens will be far greater.

Layer house for small farmers

It would seem that in free range farming and organic farming the chances of the cock doing damage to the hens is less prevalent – this may be because the hen has space to escape the attention of the roosters. In breeder broiler houses practicing intensive chicken farming the birds have very little space. An observant poultry farmer will notice this condition early and take action – either removing the rooster or placing the hen apart from the flock until she has healed and is large enough to carry the cocks weight. Hens in layer cages that lose feathers on their backs, necks and behinds lose them because of the constant friction of the cages – some of which are badly made and have sharp edges. There is not much one can do about layers in cages – they are doomed to a lifetime of “no feathers” A well made layer cage, with enough space and no jagged edges is less likely to cause the chickens to lose feathers – but it is a problem in most layer houses using battery cages.