Chicken behavior after a loss in the flock.

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fleepters

fleepters

Hatching
Sep 1, 2016
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Our flock was attacked 2 weeks ago. A buff and Wyandotte disappeared without a trace and another Wyandotte was injured very badly. We let the injured hen stay in the coop with the others and to my surprise they did not pick on her and even protected her when we came in to the coop to treat her wounds. Even when we started letting them come out of the coop again a few days after the attack, the injured hen stayed behind and one of our other buffs would not leave the coop and now that the injured hen has died, she still won't come out of the coop. I wonder if she is missing the dead hen or if she is just still scared from the attack? Anyone have experience with this? She's not broody - she's hanging out on their sleeping bar.
 
It can be very traumatic to the survivors, especially if they witnessed predator attacks. It can be varying periods of time till all the flock members feel secure enough to venture out. I think the best you can do, is try and keep their stress levels down. Hopefully no loud lawn mowers, dogs barking,
harassment by roosters etc. until they seem to be doing better. For the very anxious ones, maybe you can spend more time sitting with them - maybe listening to soft music, giving them extra treats or cuddling - if they allow it.

Some do actually grieve for their buddies.
 

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