WHY IS MY CHICKEN PECKING ITSELF!? PLEASE HELP ME! I DON'T WANT HER TO DIE!

I have 7 Rhode Island Reds and one of them keeps pecking herself! I don't know what to do! She is eating and drinking just fine and she runs around with the other chickens just fine too. I have been feeding her twice a day (2 cups of layer and 1 cup of B.O.S.S morning and night.) I think she is getting enough protein in her diet. She and the rest of the chickens are not free-ranging dew to the fox that lives in the empty field next to us. I tried Blu-Kote and it seemed to make her want to peck it even more. She is pecking herself on the center of her wing mostly, and the other chickens are pecking her on her crop area, and just below her head on her neck. She is a mess! I heard about Pine Tar but want to know if that stuff really works before spending $10 on it. I have another chicken that is being pecked on her crop area too. Please help!

Some people swear by pine tar. I've used it twice and my birds eat it. The only thing that's helped me with a pecked bird is to isolate her and then put blue coat on. But mine don't eat blue coat. When I applied blue coat without isolating her, the other birds still pecked her. If you are having a major problem with pecking, you may want to extend your run. This helped with our issue, but whenever my birds get stressed, one of them starts pecking.... I should mention that I'm definitely a newby and I hope that you get more experienced answers. If their's differ from mine, I'm not experienced.

DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT WILL STOP HER FROM PECKING HERSELF? Sorry I didn't mean to talk in caps. She is pecking herself. If keeping her in a different cage helps then I will do it in a heart beat. A lot of people say that Pine Tar really works. I think that I will try it. Will keeping her in a different cage keep her from pecking herself? I know it will keep the other chickens from pecking her, but will it keep her from pecking herself?

Pick your hen up and visually inspect her for lice/mites. If you see any, use sevin dust to dust her. Check her vent area as well.

This is safe for chickens. At least, according to the vet I took my hens to. He's a parrot vet though ...but I did look it up and couldn't find anything saying NOT to use it on poultry and it is safe for feather picking parrots. I was supposed to use this if my hens started digging at the newly exposed parts of their legs and feet. So far I haven't personally used any of it. I was told they won't like it. Not the application and not the taste.

On the label it says:
Taste deterrent for Dogs
Grannick's Bitter Apple, invented by a pharmacist in 1960
Discourages biting and chewing of hot spots.
Ingredients: Water, Isopropanol 20%, Bitter Principles and Extractives.
It does also say it may stain surfaces.

Perhaps someone with more experience can let you know if this is right. I'm only going by what I was told by a parrot vet who has been seeing more chickens than parrots lately

Where can you buy that apple stuff? Do you think that Pine Tar works to? Dawg52, I looked and I saw a weird scab thing near her butt, is that anything? If that apple stuff works, then I will totally use it!

Hi Ben! I got mine from the vet. He had it out front where you buy stuff from him that isn't prescription. Stuff like special foods and such. I would think you can walk into any vets office and get it. Or a pet store that deals with dog or parrots (?) I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. I just started with chickens too! Most everything I know so far comes from backyardchickens, asking questions + 1 trip to the avian vet.
Very little of it is from figuring it out myself. I haven't needed to use it yet. My hens have been very good about leaving their legs alone. It was just one of the vets worries. That they might find the itching of getting the mites killed off and the new skin ( and for gracie, foot feathers ) growing back in to be an irritation which would lead to them picking at it.
I trimmed all of Gracies foot feathers off because she was trying to groom them while they were loaded with oil. They were pretty ragged and malformed from the mites anyways.
The tag on the Bitter Apple says it was only $5.99. Not expensive and well worth trying! Or in my case, so worth having on hand in case the healing starts to itch my hens up.

I do know I was talking to one of the girls in my finance dept at work today and she has a pink cockatoo who will pick herself bald and bloody. She was a rescue and she screams and bites and is totally crazy! Yikes! She said this is the only thing that works for her neurotic parrot unless she sits and watches her 24/7 so she can spray her with a squirt gun every time she picks at her chest. So, yes. It works Even for certifiably insane birds!

Sounds good! We are keeping her in a pen in the chicken run area, (dog kennel) and are going to buy an extra run area for my chickens. I had a chicken die about 2 months ago from the other chickens pecking her. Just stopped breathing. I am really worried about her. Her name is Dewey by the way. I have another chicken that is being pecked on her crop area also and she is a very stressed out chicken (her name is pistachio ) It seems like the Blu-Kote stuff might be working a little bit. Really hope she makes it through this!