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So of course, no sooner than I announced my good luck with the first year of having chickens. I found out I have a mean one. She pecked all the feathers out of another one's tail. They were just starting to come back and then she took out an eye and put a hole in her head.

It's pitiful to watch the wounded soldier try to get used to walking around with only one eye. She is separated for the time being so she can heal and get to a point where she can defend herself.

Everything I have read says that kind of aggressive pecking comes from one of a few things.
1) inadequate/ cramped living conditions- not the case. I only have 4 and they have about 1/4 acre of range and 4sqf per chicken of coop space.

2) lack of protein- not the case. I am always giving them meat scraps, all kinds of other kitchen scraps, and other organic supplements in addition to their normal scratch grain feed.

3) Just a plain old nasty hen- bingo! And I have definitely singled out the aggressor. Some may not agree with it, but I do believe she will be invited to dinner here shortly if it doesn't stop.

Just for S&G I gave them some tuna for extra protein, and now that the injured one is removed, it makes an extra 1.33 ft of coop space per bird. She has no excuse and I don't want her to hurt the others.

Keeping my fingers crossed. I'd rather keep her for egg laying.

remove head; solve problem; move on . . . .

nope. not pretty.

This may come across as an absolutely absurd suggestion, but....

My wife has moderated chicken behaviour through simple positive and negative reinforcement, even when "old hands" said it was impossible to break them of bad habits. She broke two egg-eaters simply by setting an egg in front of them and smacking them whenever they went to touch it. She kept the chicken separated from the flock and performed this procedure several times a day for a couple days, and the chicken learned very quickly that eggs are bad, but every other type of food is fine.

My wife did this because we had six chickens, and removing one would reduce egg numbers whereas the time put into correcting the chicken lead to another year's worth of production. If you don't want to lose 25% of your flock, perhaps you could smack the chicken when it's aggressive to its neighbour.

That said, I suspect that your problem would be a lot more complex to solve, and I believe that, were I you, I would also just eat the offending hen.

LJ, it's not that your idea is absurd. But I don't have the time to sit outside in 30 degree weather so I can be around to smack her when she misbehaves. I agree it would probably work with chickens as well as any other animal. However, they are halfway through their most productive time, and I have to start thinking about a new flock anyways. 25% of my eggs will not leave me with as many to share until I re-flock, but I will still have plenty for my family. (right now I have 5.5 dozen in the fridge) Not to mention, I'd hate for her to get back into this behavior down the road and hurt another one of my ladies. I legitimately feel bad for the wounded one. I think it's just a matter of her being the first one to feed our family.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

My uncle used to clip the end of their beaks off so they could not hurt each other. Apparently fighting for choice nesting spots is common.

Be careful when you return the wounded hen to the flock. They all may attack as she could be seen now as 'new' hen. Chickens don't have long memories and I found when I had chickens, they are territorial. Just keep a close eye on the wounded one when you put her back in the pen. Also if she won't defend herself you may have to isolate her in order to keep her from being re-injured.

she is isolated but still within view and sniffing distance of the rest of the flock.

If one chicken is injured, the others may peck her to death. They will peck at anything that is different, like a bloody spot until the injured chicken is dead. I don't know if it is the exception or the rule. I am watching all the chicken posts. I would like to get some when my husband retires.