Polish 9weeks losing feathers or being picked on?

[Etorb1]

I have a 9 weeks polish that I noticed has a lot of feathers missing on the back of its head. I didn’t notice it being this bad yeaterday. It is in a run with bird of the same age that have been together the whole time I have had them which is about 9 weeks. Is this new feather growth or is it being pecked or picked on? The other birds are 2 polish, 2 Silkies, a Brahma, and a Wyandotte.

 

[sourland]

It is being feather pecked/plucked. Sadly this frequently happens to Polish in mixed flocks and can lead to scalping if the birds are not separated.

 

[Etorb1]

So I should set up a separate place for it?

 

[Lollychicken]

I personally don't have polish. But I have had problems with feather picking. I have found that if you put foam in the pen with the chicks they will peck at that and not the other chicks. If this isn't available I would separate them

 

[ChickenGirl555]

I've had a few polish and luckily only experienced this with one rooster--the poor boy let the girls pick on him like such a gentleman, but a stupid gentleman at that. For some reason I was lucky and the females never got more than a few snags on the head during integration, with no 'crest-targeting' in their adult age.

So I'm not extremely experienced but I know what it looks like and how it happened to mine. I've gone through many, many different periods where every hen has their rump feathers picked out by each other, or periods where they pick out any beards the bearded girls have, or times when the chest is pecked clean by boredom. The less likely solution that I think helped with me was moving them to a larger run--so they had more to do and were less bored/interested in each other--and get them out free ranging. Essentially, I had to give the picked-on girls or my polish roo a break. But specifically on my little polish roo....he was never fully-crested--the girls picked him clean seemingly as a new crest came in. But I think it was partially his fault because he just submitted to them and the hens liked being around him.

Because blood is so attractive, I would suggest separating temporarily until the crest comes back in/heals. With feathers instead of bloody scalp, the head will become less interesting--but this might not solve the issue completely. Providing entertaining of some kind, like the foam mentioned by Lolly above, can help make other activities/peck-able things more enticing than your poor birds' scalps.

 

[Etorb1]

Thanks for the advice. I have put it back in the brooder for now which is the only other available space I have at the moment. I will try and find something to keep them more entertained. My older chickens free range but I don’t think these young ones are safe to do that yet.