Decapitated chicks inside cage?

[aart]

Usually we keep biscuit and her babies in a big pen , since i’m not able to keep an eye on them all day for the time being we moved them to a more “secure”
(or so i thought) cage, which is out in the open with the free roaming chickens, this is the netting View attachment 3464092

Looks like about 1", need to halve that...as already mentioned.

 

[fanynany]

Unfortunately not home to see what it was, went ahead and moved injured ones inside, moving the other two that didn’t get hurt inside as well, gonna let mom go and keep babies inside

 

[Painted Calls]

How are the chicks doing?

X 2

The scalping looks like what I've seen hens do to chicks. My bet would have been on mom.

 

[Debbi H]

The ones you said are missing heads or bodies are being taken by some kind of predator. After years of fighting rats, even though I keep feed in metal cans, I was tired of them tunneling in, so I completely enclosed my entire pen, including the floor, with 1/2" hardware cloth (wire). I'm talking about a 16' x 20' pen. But no more rats! For the floor, I dug out about 4" of dirt, laid the wire and secured it all around, then covered it with a 4" layer of rough sand (not beach sand, the stuff I used is called 1/4" minus at places you can order gravel).
Those other injuries definitely look to me like the mama hen's work, unfortunately. She's done being with the babies. Just remove her from them. Then, any that are injured are still going to be picked on by their siblings. The little jerks just cannot leave an injury alone on another chick. So an injured one will have to be separated, too.
Of course, they hate being alone, so if there is any way that you can separate them but still allow them to see each other until the wounds are healed, it would be best all around. I have covered wounds like that with regular triple antibiotic ointment from the drug store. Not only helps prevent infection, but the ointment keeps the skin soft instead of turning into a hard, uncomfortable helmet.

 

[fanynany]

Usually we keep biscuit and her babies in a big pen , since i’m not able to keep an eye on them all day for the time being we moved them to a more “secure”
(or so i thought) cage, which is out in the open with the free roaming chickens, this is the netting

 

[LhickenChicken]

Poison is not the answer. A more secure cage is. Needs to be 1/2 inch hardware cloth.

Or maybe move them inside?

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

need opinion on separating mom and chicks , not sure what is going on, i could go ahead and put mom and 4 babies inside but worried she might poke them, should i separate the injured babies and the mom and her two okay and safe babies and place them all inside?

How old are the chicks? They look nearly fully feathered except for their heads, so about 5 weeks? If so then I would go ahead and remove all 4 chicks to a safe and secure pen covered in 1/2 hardware cloth. Another option is to aim a camera at the pen and see if you can identify what's causing the injuries. I agree with @CloverTheRabbit that the culprit is likely a rat(s), unless you are certain that rats can't get access to the chicks.

 

[fuzzi]

Unfortunately not home to see what it was, went ahead and moved injured ones inside, moving the other two that didn’t get hurt inside as well, gonna let mom go and keep babies inside

How are the chicks doing?

 

[fanynany]

!BLOOD!

cleaned the chicks head w iodine and chlorexidine not sure if i should leave open or attempt to wrap, apply antibiotic ointment? looks rough poor baby (this is one of the babies who was with the ones who died)

 

[fanynany]

unfortunately too iffy to put rat poison out as i have cats, haven’t seen many rats around since i have cats, i’ve never seen them reach through the cage but might’ve been it