A Murder Most Fowl...

[thegayhare]

hello all
Sorry for the title A bit depressed so my brains trying to be funny

Well Here is the problem I'm looking to get some advice coming into this spring I had 5 hens, 4 Golden Comets still laying and one 3 to 4 year old Roade Island Red who was just the loudest bossiest hen we named gabby.

a month ago I brought home 4 more Comets, 2 weeks ago I introduced them. the new comets were being bullied a bit and I'd seen that but these ones seemed terrified to leave their roosts
A week ago I got 6 more birds a Roade Island red mix 3 red and 3 white with speckles, I followed the same sort of procedure I usually do, I keep them in a rabbit cage in the coops fenced in area but outside the coop. then yesterday in introduced the new girls. they seemed to be mixing well but today around 3 I found one of the white speckled hens dead in the coop. she was near the fence but not up against it and her head and shoulders were sort of wedged behind a container of wood shavings I had in the run. Her neck wasn't broken and she had a deep gash in her chest, but I couldn't find any blood.

The older birds had been picking on the new ones but the new reds where standing there ground (the white speckled ones seemed mellower) and after I found the dead hen Gabby seemed to be agressivly strutting arround and the other bird were afraid of her.

Ive seperated Gabby, I figure a day or two isolated should knock some of her nastyness out of her.

So what are your thoughts on the situation? Does it seem like the fall out of a hen asserting her dominance? or is there another possible solution I missed? any advice on how to keep it from happening again?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Most likely it was a predator attack.

Gabby was strutting in anxiety trying to alert and call alarm, being the dominant hen, while the rest huddled in fear.

Look for predator signs. My guess it was a hawk strike.

LofMc

 

[nenebynature]

I'm fairly new to hen keeping. But in the future maybe a longer introduction time? My babies have been free ranging with the big girls since about April. They stay pretty segregated but interact often. They do not sleep together though yet. The extension to my run is almost completed and I will keep them separate but equal for a few weeks before I attempt to have them roost together. I am looking forward to more experienced members' replies!

 

[thegayhare]

Most likely it was a predator attack.

Gabby was strutting in anxiety trying to alert and call alarm, being the dominant hen, while the rest huddled in fear.

Look for predator signs. My guess it was a hawk strike.

LofMc

It couldnt have been a hawk the girls were still in there fenced in enclosure, which is roofed over as well. the chicken wire fencing is intact and sunk about 4 feet into the ground, with a tin over wood roof.

I'm fairly new to hen keeping. But in the future maybe a longer introduction time? My babies have been free ranging with the big girls since about April. They stay pretty segregated but interact often. They do not sleep together though yet. The extension to my run is almost completed and I will keep them separate but equal for a few weeks before I attempt to have them roost together. I am looking forward to more experienced members' replies!

Im thinking that might be a good Idea in the future. I looked in on them a few minutes ago the Comets are all slleping on the roosts while the new girls are huddled in a corner

 

[nenebynature]

It couldnt have been a hawk the girls were still in there fenced in enclosure, which is roofed over as well. the chicken wire fencing is intact and sunk about 4 feet into the ground, with a tin over wood roof.



Im thinking that might be a good Idea in the future. I looked in on them a few minutes ago the Comets are all slleping on the roosts while the new girls are huddled in a corner

Do you have enough room to add in another roost?

 

[thegayhare]

well I talked to the farmer who sold them to us.

She mentioned that from the description it sounds like it was a claw wound. she said she'd had to put down several troublesome roosters for this very thing. Most likely the hen was running from Gabby tried to take cover behind the container of wood shavings only to be stuck in a vulnerable position and kicked to death. she says seperating gabby from the others like i have should knock her down a peg, but if it happens again I might have to cull her