My chickens are plucking each other leaving bare irritated spots at the base of their backs above their tail feathers.  I think there is one main offender.  Any advice on how to keep them from doing this?

Thanks

let me just throw this in here,, the old folks used to say that when chickens was doing this, they had a salt deficiency. actually,,, i have no idea,, and would like to read the correct info myself. as stated,, i was repeating old wife's tales, for the conversation's sake.

Mine are doing the same.  It seems I have one black sexlink who is the culprit and one ISA brown who is the target.

I feed them the Purina laying hen feed and give them scratch on a regular basis.  Now considering a salt lick.  

I have never had chickens who did not do this.  More space would help, but you are witnessing the pecking order first hand.

Now I've never heard about any deficiency, but if that's the case, I'll be glad to learn that.

Hens are cruel.  They pick on each other.  

It seems to be worse at times, then they'll get distracted and ease up for a while.

I've found that giving them things to do––and places to hide––helps.

Different levels of perch to hop up and down on, some bedding to scratch in.  (I use straw, and once a day I take a couple handfuls of scratch or something they really like,  and toss it into the straw.  This keeps the bedding stirred up nicely and gives them something to do.)

Bored is bad when you're a chicken.

I have 5 hens that are in a 12' x 6' area on the ground with an additional  4' X 6' coop area.    I will give these suggestions a try.  Thanks!

Yeah...that's not a lot of space.  I mean you have plenty more than the "minimum" space per chicken, but in the reality of them all together running around and having no place to get away from the others, that's not a lot of space.  

Other ideas:   I also make use of anything I'm doing in the yard.  If I rake leaves or something––part of it goes in with the chickens.  If I mow, a few scoops of the clippings go in with the chickens.  If I weed flower beds or dig up anything, the dirt and grass and everything goes in with the chickens.  It gives them 'greens" and it keeps them occupied.  Table scraps and everything goes to the chickens (not bones, as the chickens can't eat those and  I don't want to attract rodents)  Every now and then I'll put some eggshells on a baking sheet and bake them in a slow oven for a couple of hours.  Then I crunch them up into an unrecognizable shape (so they not only smell different but look different than an egg) and feed those to the chickens.    If I get too many eggs, I scramble them and give them back to the chickens....

I set some milk crates or pieces of wood––whatever is available––in the coop to make obstacles for them to hop on, run around, and hide among.   Often the bottom chickens are also the smallest (though not always) so they can sometimes fit through a space the other chickens can't.  And once the top hens have chased the bottom hen a ways and she disappears, the top hens tend to look elsewhere––at least momentarily––for entertainment.  That gives the bottom chicken a break.

If you find a supplement or something that makes them stop picking at each others' tail heads, let me know.  

Chickens can't lick.

Why you gotta bother us with details?????

Mine take turns plucking each other. There is a purple antiseptic spray called Wound-Kote that is used on horses and such that works pretty well to keep infections and pecking down after it gets raw.

You might try making the main offender the main course for supper one night. :)