- Apr 15, 2014
- 3
- 10
- 62
I'm posting this horrible story in hopes that someone can help identify what could have done this to my beautiful hen. She was a 12 year old Polish Crested hen. She was such a sweetheart. She was in a large barn stall with one other tame frizzle white older rooster. They have been stall mates for years and have never had a problem, so I don't think he had pecked at her. He has pristine white feathers and there was not a drop of blood or dirt on any of his feathers or beak.
The stall is completely enclosed with wood at the bottom, sides and roof, with chicken wire on the top half of the stall doors with a dirt floor in our barn. The only thing that has changed within the last month is we unfortunately have a ground hog that has taken over our barn and has made two large holes tunneling into the chicken's stall. We assumed that groundhogs were not a threat to the chicken themselves and was only entering to eat their chicken food. Those holes had been there about 10 days while we figured out how to get rid of the groundhog.
So yesterday morning I entered their stall and found the hen still alive, but her entire backside had been torn and picked off. I really couldn't believe she was still alive. It was so sad to see her in that condition. She did not seem to be in destress or pain though. The damage was to her skin which was missing from under her wings all the way down her back and under her cloaca. In fact, you can see in the last photo, that the skin was ripped from that area and still showed the outline of where the cloaca would have been. Her head and neck were untouched, and her underbelly and organs were untouched as well. It was as if she had just sat there and let something rip and eat her back completely off of her. The chicken stall looked just the same, no blood, excessive feathers, or a sign of a struggle. All very strange. We immediately contacted our vet and had her euthanized by oral syringe. We now have our last remaining rooster in a separate super fortified cage until we can get to the bottom of this. From reading some other threads it sounds like the holes may have allowed other animals to gain entry into the chicken stall. What are you all's thoughts on what this predatory could be? Could it have been an unusual vicious groundhog or some other ground predator that accessed the holes? I have been raising chicken as a hobby for 40 years and have seen many chickens die from predators, but never like this. The first two photos were taken while she was still alive to show our vet, and the last two photo were taken after she had been euthanized to try to see more of how extensive her injuries were. Also, we are thinking that this attacked happen not long before we found her at 9am in the morning. The wounds were still brightly colored and no flies had found her yet. I've got to get to the bottom of this predator mystery, remove the groundhog, and fill the holes or I can't let my remaining chicken back in the same space. Please give your thoughts!
The stall is completely enclosed with wood at the bottom, sides and roof, with chicken wire on the top half of the stall doors with a dirt floor in our barn. The only thing that has changed within the last month is we unfortunately have a ground hog that has taken over our barn and has made two large holes tunneling into the chicken's stall. We assumed that groundhogs were not a threat to the chicken themselves and was only entering to eat their chicken food. Those holes had been there about 10 days while we figured out how to get rid of the groundhog.
So yesterday morning I entered their stall and found the hen still alive, but her entire backside had been torn and picked off. I really couldn't believe she was still alive. It was so sad to see her in that condition. She did not seem to be in destress or pain though. The damage was to her skin which was missing from under her wings all the way down her back and under her cloaca. In fact, you can see in the last photo, that the skin was ripped from that area and still showed the outline of where the cloaca would have been. Her head and neck were untouched, and her underbelly and organs were untouched as well. It was as if she had just sat there and let something rip and eat her back completely off of her. The chicken stall looked just the same, no blood, excessive feathers, or a sign of a struggle. All very strange. We immediately contacted our vet and had her euthanized by oral syringe. We now have our last remaining rooster in a separate super fortified cage until we can get to the bottom of this. From reading some other threads it sounds like the holes may have allowed other animals to gain entry into the chicken stall. What are you all's thoughts on what this predatory could be? Could it have been an unusual vicious groundhog or some other ground predator that accessed the holes? I have been raising chicken as a hobby for 40 years and have seen many chickens die from predators, but never like this. The first two photos were taken while she was still alive to show our vet, and the last two photo were taken after she had been euthanized to try to see more of how extensive her injuries were. Also, we are thinking that this attacked happen not long before we found her at 9am in the morning. The wounds were still brightly colored and no flies had found her yet. I've got to get to the bottom of this predator mystery, remove the groundhog, and fill the holes or I can't let my remaining chicken back in the same space. Please give your thoughts!
