Cannibalism or Predator?

[purpletree23]

Long story short. Last week I realized that 3 hens were missing feather/fluff on their behinds. Checked them during the day and at night in the coop to see if I could find any mites or other pests. I couldn't find anything but I dusted the whole flock with poultry dust and treated the nest boxes and perches. There was still a residue of Sevin from the last clean out I did in the Fall. A few days ago 2 of the hens had bloody spots on their behinds. I cleaned them up and gave 'first aid' and separated them from the rest of the flock. This afternoon one of my hens (she was fine last night) had an almost perfectly round almost 3 inch wound on her backside. It looks like the skin has been pecked/peeled away. Poor baby, gave her first aid, 2 drops of Poly Vi Sol and food and water and healthy treats and she is in a crate in the kitchen. She is acting like nothing is wrong. The wound is drying nicely.

I'm 90% sure that I have a problem with cannibalism but I'm wondering if I have a predator. They spend the night in their very secure coop then in the morning have access to a connected dog run that has a roof and is wrapped in greenhouse plastic for the winter. I have about 12 inches of mulched leaves in it and the girlz work hard all winter to make awesome compost for my vegetable garden.

I've read about all the reasons that can cause pecking but none of the conditions exist for them. Not too hot, not too cold, not too much light, the same brand of food for at least a year, the treats are usually frozen chopped spinach that I thaw before giving to them and scratch. We don't have a rooster. I did read that they could have a salt deficiency. They haven't had people leftovers for a while.

I'm looking for any feedback anyone can give me.When I let them out this morning into their attached pen I honestly did not notice if the hen had any problems or not. They usually try to trample me like a herd of cows when I open their pop door. I only noticed when I opened the pen/people door to throw some scratch onto the leaves to keep them busy that I saw her bleeding.

Is a perfectly round wound below the vent a sign of cannibalism or predator? If cannibalism I've watched them interact and did not see the culprit. I also picked each of them up and looked at their faces for signs of blood. Nothing. How do I catch who is doing this?

 

[zazouse]

Rats will do this, eat a bird alive heard of it a few times, never has it happen but did loose some quail to them.
i thought i had rats in my ground brooder so i set up my trail cam and caught them on the cam the first night, took care of that problem.

 

[purpletree23]

EEEEWWWWW, GROSS and YUCK!

Now I won't be able to sleep but you might have something there. A lot of damage in a little bit of time. Trail cam goes out tomorrow morning with rat traps and the girls stay in till noon.

 

[cnicho05]

Hello,

Oftentimes chickens will begin to peck each other when they notice blood or red/something resembling blood on another chicken. This is a natural process which allows healthy birds to eliminate sick or diseased birds from their flock. While we, as chicken owners, take care of our birds and monitor for sickness the process is still the same. Due to this understanding, you might want to remove any birds who are bleeding or have red marks from the main chicken coop and chicken run. I would suggest you remove these birds for several weeks or until this heals.

If you don't notice any bleeding or red marks on your hens I would then suggest you check their droppings. It is possible one or all of them have developed a digestive problem during this long winter we have all shared. I would suggest you place a tarp in your chicken run for 24 hours to collect the droppings. I would then check them for any blood or other peculiar alterations from their normal droppings.

If none of this helps, I would then suggest that you compare the type of food you have feed your chickens to the nutritional requirements they need. In many instances, owners don't understand the full nutritional requirements of laying hens and forget to supplement food with vital elements (e.g., vitamins and minerals). A quick fix for this comes in the form of powdered mix and is a mineral which is added to the chickens water. This is inexpensive and quick for treating the whole flock and can be found at most, if not all, farm supply stores...

Best of luck...

 

[purpletree23]

I penned off a section of the coop and put the hen that had the worse damage on her rump in it. She was healing nicely but yesterday afternoon she somehow escaped and when I went to check on them I found her dead. Blood everywhere. She had a hole on her rump that was about the size of a nickle. It went right into her abdominal cavity. I checked the other chickens but I couldn't find any evidence of blood on their feathers or beaks.

Three others have no feathers on their rears and have some evidence of pecking. Everyone else is fine. I checked for mice and lice again and sprayed the three injured hens with blue cote. I also kept them in their coop one day and set a rat trap in the run and focused the game cam on it. There wasn't one picture of anything.

In the past 2 weeks they have gotten extra spinach and heads of cabbage. Someone mentioned a salt deficiency so I gave them 5 packages of ramen noodles but only used 2 packages of the seasoning. Last night I gave them 1/2 pound of ground beef boiled with rice and I've put powdered chicken vitamins in their water. They have scratch and a balanced feed that is 16% protein. If anything they are spoiled.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Is there something else I can use to cover their back sides besides blue kote. It doesn't seem to be effective.

Anyone want 10 gorgeous, spoiled pain in the *$@ chickens?

Actually I wouldn't trade them for a million bucks.