3 month old chickens keep killing eachother in 10 by 18 coop with 5 gallon food dish and 2 gallon water what is the cause

[-Chanticleer-]

If it were a larger predator I feel like it would’ve eaten more than just the face. It looks picked clean.

 

[LaFleche]

“When pressure occurs within the flock, pecking can increase in aggression and escalate to cannibalism”.

I think this is what is happening to your flock.
Chicken cannibalism.

The bird in your picture rather looks like a possum or raccoon victim to me.

 

[LaFleche]

Where exactly are the roosting bars situated? How far or near from the door?

A raccoon could easily grab a bird through the gaps and munch on the head and neck as they love to do.

 

[sourland]

Flesh stripped from neck indicates a rather small predator.

 

[Savdye]

If it were a larger predator I feel like it would’ve eaten more than just the face. It looks picked clean.

I had something do the same thing to my rabbit too but my rabbits were not with my chickens, usually when I find them in the morning it’s not too long after my husband lets the dogs out in the mornings 3-4 am when I go out there they are still warm and limp sometimes still dying so I think the dogs probably interrupted what ever did this I also found this gap

 

[LaFleche]

What exactly are you feeding them? How much protein? How many treats and what kind?

 

[FunClucks]

I will have my husband help me fill all the gaps tonight thank you soo so much for help

You can use pieces of wood to secure hardware cloth to the coop (the hardware cloth is sandwiched between the coop wood and the trim wood) or you can use ~1" fender washers and screws to secure hardware cloth to the coop. If you use regular staple gun staples, racoons can tear them out. For areas where you don't have wood, you can use metal zip ties, or plastic zip ties for short term use (they will eventually degrade over time).

You will want 1/2" 19 gage hardware cloth, and reduce any openings to 1/2" or less. That will prevent predator entry. Chicken wire is easy for many predators to get through, and should only be used to keep chickens in, not predators out.

Also check for digging around your apron - you can use the 1/2" hardware cloth as an apron material on top of what you have already if desired. That apron you have will keep out large diggers like dogs, but not rats, mice, mink, etc.

 

[Savdye]

Where exactly are the roosting bars situated? How far or near from the door?

A raccoon could easily grab a bird through the gaps and munch on the head and neck as they love to do.

It is right next to the door but I found the chicken in the back corner and all the dishes were dumped over like there was a struggle

 

[FunClucks]

“When pressure occurs within the flock, pecking can increase in aggression and escalate to cannibalism”.

I think this is what is happening to your flock.
Chicken cannibalism.

Or opportunistic chickens decided to eat what the predator left behind.

Hard to tell without a coop camera.

Sounds like she has enough space in her coop, so I'm not inclined to think it's due to that.

 

[LaFleche]

It is right next to the door but I found the chicken in the back corner and all the dishes were dumped over like there was a struggle

So it seems to be a nightly visiting predator and not the youngsters killing each other.

It is not unusual that they might peck at the carcasses, but this does not mean that they actually killed their flock mates.