cannilbalism

[Mimi]

Hey,

this is my first post.


I have now five laying hens (YESTERDAY I HAD 6). They are well taken care of---roomy coop, good food and clean water, wood shavings on floor etc, etc. Today, when I went back to let them our for their afternoon grazing in the yard, one of them was dead. Not just dead, but eaten. Nothing left but head, feet and feathers. We could see any, way some critter got in the coop and the other hens were fine. I suspect cannibalism. Why? What should I do now?


Also, some info on buying layers in the fall. We live in coastal NC and the weaher is mild most of the year. Good idea or should I w ait for spring?

Thanks, Mimi

 

[eeiko321]

hi, welcome to the forum

what kind of chickens are they?

yes i heard when chickens are dead...the fellow ones can be pecking at the corpse.

did u remove the corpse already?
cause i was thinking u should keep an eye on them..

but also make sure nothing can get into the coop or runm like weasles etc..

 

[crazychicken]

i live on the eastern part of NC too well in the middle but more east than west i usually have extra chicks and i am a 90% gender guesser
(i have a 90% accuracy from telling hens from roos at a young age.)
if you live near me i might be able to get you some more layers.

 

[Mimi]

Thanks for the reply.

No, nothing got into the coop. We checked well. I now have four speckled sussex and one rir. The one that died was a seabright mix. She was smaller than the others and of course a different color.

I bought the hens at a poultry auction so I'm not sure how old any of them are. They all laid well until moulting.

Mimi

 

[bigzio]

It's possible she had a flighty accident and broke her neck, I've seen that happen before. Then the others might have had a pecking the corpse type situation.

If you are providing plenty of room with fresh feed and water, then this is prolly a freak thing that can happen.

bigzio