Chickens killing chickens?

[henrynkell]

I woke up Saturday morning to find 3 of my 11 layers dead in the chicken coop/pen. There were 2 more that were severely wounded, one is probably not going to make it. We've had the 11 layers for a bit over a year, all together, and we've never had any problems with them. No new chicks/chickens have been introduced into the coop, either.

We checked the coop/pen all over for signs that a predator may have some how gotten in, but nothing.... and after examining the dead chickens, it was obvious that it wasn't a predator but the other layers that had done this.

The only change that we can think of was one day last week, we let the layers 'mingle' with our 10 week old meat birds. This wasn't the first time that they were all together, but it didn't happen often. And they were only together for about 20 minutes, free ranging in the backyard. Is it possible that the dominant hens became aggressive just by being around the 'newbie' meat birds and for some reason turned on the other layers several days later? Any help is appreciated as I want to be sure this doesn't happen again Thank you!

 

[mrchicks]

How awful!

I would sit out there and watch the interaction between the remaining birds. We had a BO that one day decided to attack other birds. We tried peepers, confining her alone for a week then re-introducing her. Nothing helped, she continued to viciously attack the other hens. They had all been raised together, nothing had changed at all. We had to remove her from the flock.

 

[niamhblond]

As much as we see chickens as pets at the end of the day they are animals . Maybe the chickens had had a little falling out with a game bird and some blood was drawn , when other chickens see blood they will pick and pick and pick until sadly that chicken is dead . Sorry to hear this and I wish you the best of luck .

 

[subhanalah]

How can you be sure it wasn't a mink or weasel or something of that nature and the chickens were just doing what chickens do...scavenging.

 

[Den in Penn]

I doubt very much it was the other chickens. They do not all a once up and decide to kill multiple flock mates at one time. One sometimes. A mink or weasel is much more likely. They can get in some small hole.

 

[lazy gardener]

M.O. sounds like weasel to me. They can squeeze through a 1" hole... a hole so small that you might not even notice it.

 

[donrae]

I'm sorry about your dead and wounded birds. But, the very fact you have dead and wounded birds is the sign you had a predator in the pen. Chickens just don't behave that way, especially at night. Sure, a dominant hen may single out an omega bird and terrorize it, and flocks can even get cannibalistic due to overcrowding, etc....but it's never out of the blue, killing or injuring half the flock. Something thought you were offering a buffet and just couldn't get the birds out. Agree it sounds like something in the weasel family, they're blood thirsty little buggers.

 

[Cknldy]

How can you be sure it wasn't a mink or weasel or something of that nature and the chickens were just doing what chickens do...scavenging.

my first thought too. What areas were the wounds in on the maimed ones and how were the dead ones positioned when you found them? Mink/weasels will kill everything in the coop without even eating them.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I'm sorry about your dead and wounded birds. But, the very fact you have dead and wounded birds is the sign you had a predator in the pen. Chickens just don't behave that way, especially at night. Sure, a dominant hen may single out an omega bird and terrorize it, and flocks can even get cannibalistic due to overcrowding, etc....but it's never out of the blue, killing or injuring half the flock. Something thought you were offering a buffet and just couldn't get the birds out. Agree it sounds like something in the weasel family, they're blood thirsty little buggers.

X2
I know you said you checked for signs of a predator, but the fact is that depending on your setup, many predators are able to make entry/exit without leaving a single sign that they were there. Can you tell us a bit more about your setup, or even provide some pictures. We may be able to help you identify areas in which certain predators could have gotten in and out of your enclosure.

 

[henrynkell]

Hi everyone, thanks for the advice/replies. I will have to take some pictures tonight and post them later. The dead birds seemed to have most of the wounds concentrated on their heads, only one had wounds on her underside. One dead chicken was inside the coop (this is the one with underside wounds) under the hanging food container, one was outside in the pen in the corner, and the last was also outside in the pen but in a large bin I have in there for a dust bath.

Of the 2 that were wounded but still alive, one had MANY smaller wounds on her head, her left eye is swollen shut-- starting to heal and open some but not sure it will heal completely. The other wounded bird has a large gash on her underside like one of the dead birds. I have the one with the eye wound in a pen in the garage away from the other birds. I let her in the back yard last night with the rest of the flock so that she could get outside for a bit, and one of the others immediately came after her and started pecking her.

I will have to double check my coop/pen set up for signs of a smaller opening somewhere that maybe a mink/weasel could have come in. I'm definitely not ruling out anything at this point as I obviously don't want another incident. I knew I had an overcrowding issue, but this was not new (and we are getting started on enlarging the pen area).

Donrae, you made a good point that I didn't even consider, this did happen overnight... not an active time at all for these girls.

Thanks again for the help, everyone! I appreciate it!!