Chickens killing chickens??

[silkie-mom]

Update on injured her--
My hen is home from the vet and is a bit stronger. She's taking liquid food and water every couple hours without protesting too much. She holds her head up and doesn't seem to mind me cleaning and redressing her wound.

The vet now thinks is may have been a rat attack, and that this hen ripped her wing trying to get away. The deceased roo may have been trying to intervene.
I let them all run in their chicken yard today (only with my dogs out in the yard to guard the coop) and they preferred to stay mostly inside the building. They do seem to feel better with the dogs hanging around outside the pen though.

I had an idea.....tell me what you think of this:
Until I can devise a safe way to begin killing the rats (which I have never seen), I got the idea of putting cat pee soaked rags out in the outdoor portion of the coop. I also have some used litter with poops included around the outside perimeter of the fence. Think this will help keep rats away?

I happen to have an old cat that will pee on any type of cloth it finds on the basement floor near the washer. I got the idea after I discovered that I had tossed a cleaning rag down the laundry chute earlier and forgot to pick it up in time. I found it soaked in pee......sooooooo......I ran outside with it.
I made him a little tray with rags in it so he can pee to his heart's content.

 

[nautical_bouy]

carwinew ,,, You had how many birds in how big a space??? 17 1/2 feet for 20???? Do the math... In a trough none the less,,, they couldn't even look outside.
You wouldn't like your neighbors in those conditions either.

Silkie mom,,,You seriously keep a cat that pees on cloth it finds?????

Cramped chickens can be not knowing but that cat in the house is just GROSS

 

[nnbreeder]

Just how tight is the bottom of your fence? Do you have a bottom rail that the fence ties to? If you don't something could easily slide under it and attack your birds. The puncture wounds on the head sounds like it was in some critter's mouth and those are insisor marks.

 

[silkie-mom]

It's a chainlink enclosure that is also wrapped in poultry netting. Everything is tied to the bottom rail.
They are all doing great being outside now, as long as my dogs stay near the pen. If the dogs get bored and wander away, they return to the coop and peer out the door.

They are still a bit "shocky" I think from whatever attack took place in that pen.
I bought a baby monitor today and will hook it up inside the coop tomorrow. That way I can hear any commotion inside the house at all times. I can then either go out there in my rat-killing-underwear, or dispatch a border collie or two. They are being taught to hang near the coop, and you know with border collies learning something new takes about 3 minutes. However, they stay inside the house with me at night....thus the baby monitor.

 

[silkie-mom]

I got the baby monitor installed tonight. I love this! I can hear everything....even the crickets outside the coop while my clucks are sleeping.

My hen is looking stronger tonight. I got her some baby food green beans and fed her some with her "syringe dinner". She seemed to love it.

 

[mgibbzzz]

Due to a mistake by the hatchery, I ended up with 32 chicks in a dog kennel in my kitchen. Yeah, my cat loved that. They were inside because of the temps outside until they were big enough to go out. Now 32 chicks in a Large dog kennel, it didn't take them long to get tired of each others company. They began to pick and pull feathers off of each other. They would gang up on one and just tear into it. We separated that chick, and they would find another and tear into it. We decided to take the older half, they were a week apart in age, out to the coop and let them stay there. No more picking or ganging up on each other. We then moved the other half out about a week later and all was well. They had plenty of room and didn't bother each other. Maybe this is what is happening to your chicks. If they don't have enough room, they will make room.


DMK Ranch

 

[mark3208]

That baby monitor is a good idea. Thanks for that.