Assassin In Their Midst?

[davetaylor1951]

Dear All

I need the benefit of your wisdom and experience!

I have kept hens for almost two years now. I had three which, for the sake of simplicity of telling the tale, we will call A, B & C. A was the top chick with B second in command.

Two months ago I got three more, all different breeds (D, E & F). A immediately established her dominance over them with B a close second. The new were point of lay.

A month passed without incident, then suddenly I found A dead. Her backside was bloody and I noted D in particular was hanging around, tasting the blood but not exclusively.

A couple of days later C was hanging around with a bloody bottom. I gave her some first aid and put ointment on her bottom to heal her and hopefully stop any more trouble. I also noted her bottom was smeared in yellow poo too. I found her dead the next day....

By this time B was head chick and giving the others a hard time but a few days later she started with the yellow poo and a backside that was a disaster area. She was timid and was allowing D in particular to peck at her, as had C. I isolated her immediately and took her to the vets. Now, a week later the cuts have healed and the yellow stuff gone.

This morning I found E dead. Her guts had been pulled out of her.

That leaves B who was isolated and D & F.

My prime suspect is D. F was sitting tight in an egg laying box.

So I have isolated D to where B was and put B back with F. B lost no time in dominating F who is very intimidated by her.

Has anybody had this kind of thing happen to them? Assuming I am right about D (time will tell!) is D a bad'un?

Any help you can give will be much appreciated.

Dave

 

[JROOSTER]

Wow this is crazy. I would almost have to guess something else killed them, or at least some of them. I hope you find out what happened but I hate to say its almost too late you have so few left. Im very sorry to hear this.

 

[KKatknap]

When you added the new three, had you quarantined them for 30 days first? If not, my first thought is that they introduced a disease into your flock. Once they were ill, the pecking began. Even when they look healthy, they can carry something into your flock.

I'm very sorry for your losses...so hard to go through that stuff!

 

[christa7032]

I haven't quite had your situation but I thought my roo had killed a couple of my girls and separated him then they continued to be killed. I would find them in the morning in their run which had 2 layers of wire on it, was sitting on rock so nothing could dig in, and had wire and a tarp over the top. It turns out something was reaching through the wire and killing the girls at night. I put another layer of wire up and the killing stopped. I only lost one more after that to the same thing where whatever it was (I think a racoon) reached through the tiny hole where the gate meets the frame. I don't know if this applies to you though because of the yellow rears. Hope this helps.

 

[patandchickens]

At the beginning of your saga, as I was reading it, I thought "well probably it was just a hen prolapsed while laying, that'd get ANY chickens to pecking at her"... but then as there was the second one, and the third and fourth, I have to agree that it sounds like you have a habitual cannibal there.

Chickens DO do this, and once they have picked up the habit (for whatever reason, sometimes due to overcrowding or stress or poor management but I believe that a few are just born predisposed to it for some reason) they cannot always be cured of it. I actually would wonder just a little whether possibly this is WHY that second set of hens (D in particular) were for sale... although, who knows.

Personally, I would put D in the stewpot this afternoon, and then wait and see whether B and F can get along ok with each other. Be aware though that unless D was the sole and total culprit, it is possible it may start up again if/when you introduce new hens to them, so you'd want to be cautious and keep a close eye on them. It is not *absolutely* inconcievable that you might end up just having to start over from scratch (i.e without B *or* F anymore), although hopefully it won't come to that and I would guess there is a fair chance it *won't*.

Condolences and best of luck,

Pat

 

[max101]

Did the vet say anything about the poo issue.
Did all the hens have this yellow poo????
Will one chicken go to this extreme for raw meat??
I am sorry for your loss I hope things work out good in the end
Best of luck

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

i'm with you on that . i think it's suspect D.

 

[davetaylor1951]

Thanks for all your great replies.

The third dead chicken which I found yesterday did not appear to have any yellow poo.

As for when I took B to the vet she thought B had got an infection.

So right now D is in solitary. I have noticed that she is not as well groomed as she was a week or so ago.

B is well in charge of the other hen in the pen which appears to have gone broody, spending a lot of time in the laying box. When I go near she "growls" at me and fluffs her feathers.


The saga continues...

Thanks once again

Dave from Chester in England

 

[max101]

Are they getting enough protein in their diet??
I think D has development a rather nasty habit that may not be easy broken if at all
Maybe add extra calcium and protein to their diet
Are they pulling out each others feathers ??
Is their a crowding issue??
It seems wierd after 2 years this would happen
Can you think of anything that has changed lately??