Attacked Chick with flayed back - Mama or Predator?

[Krazyquilts]

Update: the chick died.

This morning when my husband went to let out the chickens, he found that one of our four-week-old Buff Orpington chicks had a bloody flayed back! The chicks had been closed up by themselves in a separate coop with their "mother," a Silkie cross, and are also within an electric poultry netting pasture patrolled by a guard dog.

After we took pictures, I sprayed her liberally with BluKote and put her in a brooder with some 2.5 week old ducklings so that the adult chickens in that pasture wouldn't pick on her. She seems to be in pain and in shock and I am monitoring her closely.



I know that this had to have happened sometime during the night last night because:
1. When I did a head count last night while closing everyone up, the chicks were all fine, and
2. The blood is too fresh to have happened yesterday during the day.

Here's pics of their house. It's a Rubbermaid-type shed with hardware cloth windows. The Buff Orpington chicks and Silkie Mama are the only ones in it at night. Everyone else is in a separate coop.



So do you think that Silkie Mama did this? Or that we have rats? Or something else?

The other odd thing I wanted to mention is that a few weeks ago, I attempted to graft two Lavender Orpington chicks onto Silkie Mama for her to raise with her Buff chicks. I know it's risky but I've had good luck with some mamas so I wanted to give Silkie Mama a try. They were about two weeks older than her Buff chicks. I carefully monitored the Lavender chicks with her during the day and while she seemed slightly skeptical at first, she completely ignored them the rest of the day. (Not violent, just skeptical.) The next morning, both Lavender Orpington chicks had wounds just like this chick does. We assumed that Silkie Mama took offense to them being in the coop with her and her chicks at night and beat the crap out of them so I of course immediately removed them. (They are doing just fine, btw.) But if she did indeed injure those Lavender chicks, why would she hurt her own baby? She's been a great mom to her Buff chicks.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

That's a predator... not done reading yet. But mom did NOT do that!

 

[amelia413]

Ha stage baby been sickly or weaker than the rest of the chicks... she might've tried to kill it because it was a "waste of space"

 

[amelia413]

Has the not ha stage

 

[Motherhen25]

Wow, prayers for the baby. Did you check the entire coop to make sure there is no possible way for a predator to get in? If there is no opening it may be the best thing to assume the mother did it since she has a history of injuring chicks.

 

[amelia413]

I had a hen who attacked her chick for being sick, it didn't look like that, but the injuries were fatal.

 

[Kiki]

Oh boy...poor thing.
I would not put any chicks back in with this silkie. If there is not possible way for a predator to get in then it has to be the mom doing it, right?

Are you planing on trying to nurse this chick back to health or put it down?

You may want to check this thread out:
Specifically the use of Medihoney.
Graphic Pics- Wing Amputation Advise?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

That does look painful. Aspirin can be used in the water though I'm unsure of dose.

Yes, I do agree that moms CAN do that.

You didn't notice it last night, but when DID you notice it today? I had a baby get scalped just two days ago. Thing is I suspect aerial predator, seems like wrong location for rats. My mama is not picking on her baby at all and it's sticking close by, behavior of said baby and mum can tell you a LOT. And I didn't notice it the previous night either but around 10 am. Maybe I just didn't see it when I let them out but I don't think so. Like it was fresh... must have been yesterday come to think of it because today it is a different color more peachy then red.

I would use some electrolytes with vitamins and probiotics if I had it. And to be honest I had a duck get scalped once (and survive) and ducks can be just as brutal as chicks when it comes to checking things out. The babe won't starve, but dehydration from shock (and all the evaporation in the exposure) could be deadly quick. So try to ensure the chick is getting some liquids.

 

[HenniesInMyHeart]

If mom made injuries on other chicks in exactly the same way, she did it. No question. She is unfit to be a mom. Sometimes hens will kill their own chicks; it doesn't matter that they hatched from her own eggs. For the wounded baby, coat the wound with antibiotic ointment so it is sealed from the air.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

since she has a history of injuring chicks.

Any of my mom hens would flip their lid if you tried to add unknown chicks that were not on the SAME day (regardless of age). But at two weeks old, that was a self imposed risk and as far as I am concerned not the fault of the hen.

Incidentally my broody's will peck away other chicks... BUT they will ALSO come to thump me a good one if I mess with those chicks! Like when the other mom is teaching babes how to get back inside the coop but not all make it so I go assist them.