Cause of death for my Lohmann Brown Pullet

[mja89]

Hi everyone!

I consult this website frequently bit this is my first post- all help appreciated!

Sadly yesterday I had my first loss of a flock mate. I have a small flock of three hens who have been happily free-ranging on my rural block for the past 7 months without incident. We are very lucky in the sense that the only predators in the area are foxes, snakes and hawks (I live in NSW Australia) and so far we haven't had any problems with any.. I am mindful of that fact that given our girls free-range all day at their leisure, we are bound to have a loss from time to time..

I am however at a loss to determine what has picked off one of our girls. She was found in a spot they forage frequently not far from the house, and her injuries would indicate another bird- vent eaten with intestine coming out, and missing eyes/brain/neck feathers. I would firstly assume it was a hawk, but the meat of the bird was in tact and no scavenger birds had even eaten her (crows, ravens).

After researching I have found these injuries are common in cannibalism- and I am just at a loss to think why her sisters would turn on her when clearly space/overcrowding/husbandry is not an issue. Of course I would like to get another couple of birds to bump up our flock again but I am reluctant in case we would be committing them to the same fate!

Maybe I am wrong, but I have a sinking feeling she has been attacked by her sisters- I should also mention she was definitely the lowest in the pecking order, but I have never noticed any overt bullying.

Any help from anyone with experience in this. would be most appreciated!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Do you have owls?

 

[skylershappyhen]

Being that it's NSW, I don't think that you have raccoons. But it is common for a coon to rip out gizzard and neck area while eating nothing else. Perhaps there is a similar predator there.
On the other side, chickens can be vicious...
Good luck!

 

[mja89]

Hi @ChickensAreSweet thanks for your interest in my problem. We do have owls in the area, but the chook was attacked in broad daylight and I thought owls hunted at night time? I could be wrong!

@skylershappyhen from the wealth of information available on this site I have read her injuries are definitely consistent with what you call a raccoon, however I can't for the life of me think of a similar animal here in Australia- not within my area anyway. I am stumped! Appreciate your help though!

I just don't know

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Hi @ChickensAreSweet thanks for your interest in my problem. We do have owls in the area, but the chook was attacked in broad daylight and I thought owls hunted at night time? I could be wrong!

@skylershappyhen from the wealth of information available on this site I have read her injuries are definitely consistent with what you call a raccoon, however I can't for the life of me think of a similar animal here in Australia- not within my area anyway. I am stumped! Appreciate your help though!

I just don't know

I have had owls attack in the morning and in the evening in daylight. They leave the carcass as you described...picking away at it so the spine and other body parts are left. They also like to bite the head off but sometimes they don't.

We have lots of owls here and they are lovely creatures but I do lose some of my chickens every year to them.

 

[mja89]

Thank you @ChickensAreSweet

I had not considered the owls as I assumed they hunted only at night.. A terrible waste of a chook to kill it and only eat such a small amount.. Maybe I've been too hard on the other girls by assuming they murdered their sister! I will keep an open mind from now on..


There is little we can do to prevent aerial attacks as they do free range, I guess we will just have to be mindful in the future or perhaps invest in a rooster to keep the girls safe or break up any squabbles that might occur!

Thanks again!!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Thank you @ChickensAreSweet

I had not considered the owls as I assumed they hunted only at night.. A terrible waste of a chook to kill it and only eat such a small amount.. Maybe I've been too hard on the other girls by assuming they murdered their sister! I will keep an open mind from now on..

There is little we can do to prevent aerial attacks as they do free range, I guess we will just have to be mindful in the future or perhaps invest in a rooster to keep the girls safe or break up any squabbles that might occur!

Thanks again!!

You are welcome!

You can make them shelters they can hide under...it helps mine a lot. My chickens wouldn't last 24 hours without my shelters:

The pen on the left has netting over it, but on the right you can see two hawk shelters. I also made two A-frame shelters using plywood cut lengthwise and put tin on top with a ridge cap to keep the rain out. So they are 8 feet long. They do help a great deal.

The one in the pic is two pieces of tin with concrete blocks holding it down from wind. Also the other one is made of pallets and concrete blocks. You can also put the pallets flat with the concrete blocks under them.

 

[mja89]

Thank you @ChickensAreSweet for the great photo- how lucky your chooks are!

I think it's great you have utilized recycled materials to provide your birds with shelter- this must also give them a good place to go in the heat.

Unfortunately as we live in a rental property we are fairly restricted in what we can do to modify our property, but you have inspired me to place a few overturned drums in their favorite foraging areas for extra protection.. We are lucky in that there is lots of dense shrubs and low trees in the area so only rarely are they out 'in the open'..

Also, do you find your rooster is handy in alerting your girls to threat from aerial attack?

Thanks again for the great pic---> what a great chook-mum you are!

:yiipchick

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Thank you @ChickensAreSweet for the great photo- how lucky your chooks are!

I think it's great you have utilized recycled materials to provide your birds with shelter- this must also give them a good place to go in the heat.

Unfortunately as we live in a rental property we are fairly restricted in what we can do to modify our property, but you have inspired me to place a few overturned drums in their favorite foraging areas for extra protection.. We are lucky in that there is lots of dense shrubs and low trees in the area so only rarely are they out 'in the open'..

Also, do you find your rooster is handy in alerting your girls to threat from aerial attack?

Thanks again for the great pic---> what a great chook-mum you are!

You are welcome!

My "roosters" are youngish still - under 4 months of age, all of them. So they don't do much yet. This is an old pic.

The previous roosters we have had though helped with watching out for aerial predators. It does make a difference. However, we go in cycles with roosters and get rid of some, get new chicks, etc. and so don't always have them around fully grown.

 

[mja89]

Excellent- I will keep this in mind when expanding the flock!

Thanks again for all your help! :yiipchick