Chickens will always have a "pecking order" and that's where the common phrase comes from--usually one chicken is dominant, and at least one is at the bottom. This isn't a problem, just part of having chickens. Usually the dominant one or ones are the older ones, and they claim the first dibs to food, etc. The others are "pecked" aside, and accept the hierarchy. They may get some benefits from the more dominant chickens by being led to tastier food sources, or being alerted to or protected from danger (my sense is the dominant ones are more intelligent, or at least more experienced).
Recently we sold two of our four chickens because the flock had developed a disturbing behavior--the dominant chicken was agressively plucking feathers from the others and particularly the one on the "bottom." Feather pecking can be fatal--chickens are attracted to blood, and if they peck another to the point of bleeding they won't stop. Luckily it didn't get to that point, but the other chickens didn't look good--bald patches on the necks, and a bald behind and back feathers all cropped on the one.
Our flock was a mixture of breeds and ages, and perhaps this contributed to the problem. We had a Rhode Island Red named Rita, and a Barred Rock named Thelma and two Black Australorps. The first two are 18 months old, and the Australorps are 15 months. I chose these breeds because they are supposedly good layers, dual purpose for meat if we wanted to go that way, (or later sell them when they no longer lay consistently) and the Barred Rocks because they are cold hardy and defend themselves against predators. Having raised them since 12 weeks of age, I now also know that the Australorps tend to be shy and don't relate to humans much, and the other two breeds have more personality. Not surprisingly, Rita, the Rhodie, was the dominant one--Rhodies tend to be aggressive as a breed. Thelma, the Rock, had the most personality, was the most curious about human activities, and was probably the most intelligent.
We suspected mites at first, but "rooster booster" (a sticky brown goop that contains pine tar) applied several times a week didn't work. Then we separated Rita from the others for two weeks (minus a few days when she was inadvertently reunited). When I reintroduced her, I witnessed the agressive plucking behavior, and that she ate the feathers.
Now I've read that feather pecking can be diet related--specifically a need for more protein. They do "free range" in a small yard during the day, and scratch and eat bugs and worms. But it could be that there are less bugs than they need, since they have consistently grazed in this yard for over a year (previously grazed for several years by other chickens) and the yard is maybe 600 square feet. We have added wood chips and straw to the ground, which helps the worm population, but maybe not enough. And both Rita and Thelma (but especially Rita) have laid almost an egg a day since January first, which is a lot of output! (And no lights on them, either). We feed them really good, expensive if purchased in the city, organic feed pellets that are supposed to have everything they need, so at first I dismissed the diet issue out of hand. We also give them fresh greens from the garden.
I don't regret the decision to sell them although I felt terrible about it for a few days. There are six of us who feed them; none of us live on the property where they are kept; everyone seems to have their own style of caring for them, and they don't get fed at the same time every day. In retrospect, I know I could have done better by them. I could have made sure they had "rooster booster" applied every day, for example. I could have fed them a high protein supplement like yogurt.
It is disturbing to witness a chicken you consider a pet and have named, terrorizing another chicken. It brought up strong feelings among some of the feeders about who should be sold, bad chickens vs. good chickens, victim/perpetrator dynamics, and even feelings about relegating a chicken to a large dog crate for "solitary confinement." I myself felt like a failure as an "urban farmer", selling the best layers and the ones with the most personality. But, after all, I would have sold them in a year or two anyway, since I do want eggs, and don't have the support or space to "process" them myself. I wouldn't want to eat them anyway, having named them and considered them pets.
One person said, who cares--they're just chickens! Why all the fuss? But I have witnessed that chickens have personalities, loyalties, and feelings. They witnessed one of the flock (Louise) be killed by a raccoon. That may have been traumatizing. I saw how they reacted to Rita's reintroduction--it settled them. Thelma in particular spent a lot of time in close proximity to Rita foraging for bugs. I added the eggs Rita laid in the crate to the hen house, and twice they moved the egg to be with the others in the nest.
I also witnessed one of our former chickens, after her cohort was killed by a hawk, lose feathers, stop laying, and become lethargic. We gave her away to a friend who kept old chickens, and who had received two of the same flock previously. But the new chicken, introduced alone, never was accepted and suffered.
For this reason, I sold Rita and Thelma together. May they live a good life in their new flock.
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