Due to a mink attack in February, the very mixed flock (from Rocks to Silkies and Australorps) were moved into the barn for safety. They were fine for a while, but lately, they've been acting strange. One biiiiig Barred Rock hen named Emily is quite a mean little bugger to her fellow birds, but then she lets us carry her around and act all dopey. Resently, we found my roster TC pecked to death (he survived a mink attack, mind you), a young Silkie hen completely scalped (we didn't realize it was her skull exposed until we realized silkies have black bones, but she's still alive, strangely enough and safely inside the house away from all birds), and another buff silkie hen pecked to death and scalped as well. We haven't seen it happen, but could it be the big hen killing them and attacking them? Also, for emergency purposes, three free-range turkies were put in there with them for a few days after the mink attack, could they be the ones doing it? :| I also have another aggressive bird question. It's a little OT, because it involves a pair of Embden geese. They are awfully agressive this year (they weren't last year) and attack anyone near them, and even went after my two year old cousin in the face for no apparent reason. Last year they laid eggs and had a nest, and hatched their eggs, but they weren't aggressive at all. Is this normal? It would be much appreciated if someone would point me in the right direction! Those geese are free-ranging too and I'm afraid they might reeallly hurt someone. - Alycia
Turkeys ripping chickens to bits would not surprise me at all in an enclosed type environment. Free ranging together is generally ok, but cooping is often disastrous, especially when they are coming into season. Geese can be very territorial and will fly in your face to establish that dominance over territory. Once again coming into the spring will influence this behavior dramatically.
Do they have enough room??? Turkeys could be causing issues as well. do they get to go out at all, or are they in all the time??
Their temporary housing is a rather big insolated milk house. There are many nesting boxes, plenty of roosts (high, lower, and all in between), a few windows, and a hole in the wall for them to get out in a fenced in environment. They aren't cramped together, and have a good amont of room. They used to be quite packed before the mink attack due to having about 3x as many birds and being in a chicken-wired stall in the barn and unseperated (We took them from a man who wasn't caring from them properly, as well as 80+ eggs, back in January.) There are very few now, and they are in a much large area now, so it doesn't really make sense to me why they are killing each other or hurting each other. I did pull a few Barred Rock feathers off of the injured Silkie hen, (the turkies are a pair White Hollands, and one Bourbon Red) so I assumed it was her doing it, her mate was also killed by the mink.