Beetle Killed Chick?? **GRAPHIC**

[Purplegolfqueen]

Looking for help to better understand what happened here and learn from this experience...

I have been raising 30 or so cornish cross chickens once a year for the last 4-5 years or so. I've had chicks die before but this was a bit odd. This chick was 5 days old. When I found him this morning he wasn't completely dead but very close to it.

The beetle was firmly attached and there was a hole in the chicks stomach/side near the beetle. I didn't do any more investigating and instead put the chick out of it's misery.

So here's what I'm thinking happened - last night the beetle crawled on to the chick. Chick couldn't get it off and the other chicks tried "helping" and eventually pecked the check to near death trying to get the beetle off.

Does that sound plausible? From what I read these beetles aren't strong biters and only drink - no eating. So what would it be doing on my chick? They were near the water jug so maybe the beetle was just lost and looking for a drink.

Has anyone seen this before? Anything I should learn from this experience?

*****WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGE*****




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We just went out this evening and found the same bug (stag beetle) attacking one of our Cornish cross chickens. My husband had to really pull it off as it was attached to the stomach and leg and when he finally got it off the poor chicken was bleeding on his legs and his stomach looks like the bug ate through the skin. I had never heard of anything like this but def need to keep an eye out for these beetles. I think this chicken may make it but too soon to tell. We put bannix on the wounds and then covered with the purple spray to keep the other chickens from pecking at the blood. I will just say a small prayer that he is able to fight this and win.