Can a roo kill a hen?

[Red Barn Farms]

I'm not a fluent poster, but I read a lot and gain a lot from these boards.

Until now.

That's fine if you want to question the choices I make, but don't act like a douche canoe about it.

Stop for one moment and perhaps look at a different perspective/idea. Mayhaps I came across someone that raises this breed of chicken, and has been told the situation, and still would like him?

So, whatever, think what you want. Enjoy the view upon the seated throne of your high horse, Barn.

If that was the case that would be perfect! You originally never said it that way. The way it originally sounded you were upset about it, which is very understandable and mad and just wanted the rooster gone! As in 'let someone else deal with it'! This entire thread speaks for itself. I need say no more. Have a good day and I am sorry to hear what happened to your hen. I just had my favorite rooster die a few days ago too. I went out to the barn like normal 5:30 am sharp to feed and water and open the barn to find him just laying on the ground. No signs of a struggle or anything. All the other roosters were fine. It was so hard digging a hole due to no rain and this heat over the past month. I had to dig what I could, then soak it with water for about an hour, then keep repeating the process.

 

[growyourbrew]

We used to have a very aggressive rooster. Luckily he was only a bantam in a (mostly) standard coop. However, he was still stressing the hens too much so we let him free range. Eventually the foxes got him

 

[chkn]

I wouldn't assume the rooster did it unless he is aggressive and mean with the hens. If a rooster decided to kill a hen, you'd see feathers missing and skin and eyes pecked. It would be pretty nasty. All dead chickens have a limp neck so I wouldn't assume the neck was broken. It could have been heat exhaustion or a worm or mite overload.

 

[janinepeters]

All dead chickens have a limp neck so I wouldn't assume the neck was broken.

Is this true? I wondered about that when I found mine dead with a floppy neck last summer. Why would it be limp? Doesn't rigor mortis happen in all skeletal muscles after death? Why wouldn't that be true for the neck muscles?

 

[chkn]

Rigormortis is a temporary phenomenon. If all the chicken is stiff but the neck still has a flop then maybe it is broken. It's pretty easy to break a hens neck as they don't have any muscle on the neck.

 

[chkn]

BTW, I've noticed that chickens dying will sometimes stretch themselves out before death. I had one that I'd babied along for almost a year with egg peritonitis and when she went, she stretched her legs out (little at a time) behind her while lying on her tummy. She went real peacefully for a chicken. Your hen may have gotten over heated, worm or mite overloaded, and number of things leading up to it.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

I found by Quail d'Anver that had prolapsed dead the other morning. She had her head loosely under her wing and eyes closed, hanging down a bit, but ,yes, her legs were stretched out, which I thought was odd. It made my bawl when I put her in the hole and she still looked like she was still sleeping.

I couldn't figure out the legs though, that's good to know.

 

[chkn]

It's odd because it's the first time I had a hen go so peacefully. I worked pretty hard to keep her going and became very attached. I sat with her while she died. I brought her back outside in her little crate with a comfy towel in it. She wasn't improving in the house so I brought her out to the coop to see if that would help. She just gradually over the course of half an hour or so just made herself more and more comfortable until she was all stretched out and then passed. That one bothered me a lot just because she became such a fixture. I talked to her and stroked her wattles and then just sat with her. She was such a sweetie.

 

[janinepeters]

Rigormortis is a temporary phenomenon. If all the chicken is stiff but the neck still has a flop then maybe it is broken. It's pretty easy to break a hens neck as they don't have any muscle on the neck.

I don't know, that just doesn't sound right. Chickens definitely have neck muscles. I've eaten chicken necks, and the part you eat is muscle! If there was no muscle in the neck, the bird would not be able to hold up the head or to move it! If the rest of the chicken is stiff and neck flops, I would think the neck has to be broken (????). So I think my dead chicken and the OP's dead chicken must have broken their necks.

 

[chkn]

The answer is no, I don't think it was the rooster who killed the hen.