HeidiGretchen
Chirping
This morning, I found my 11 week old hen dead in a corner of our coop. I'm assuming our other chickens attacked her, but maybe not? They have not bothered her before, so I'm confused.
Extra details...
We have 9 original chickens - 8 hens, 1 rooster, who are all around 1 year old. We let our broody hens hatch chicks, which were born just before Easter. The chicks have been inside the coop from the start, although we kept them in a separate crate. When they were only a week old, they managed to escape and 1 baby was killed. The other 2 were not harmed. We fortified the crate and kept them in there until about 3 weeks ago. We let them out for supervised periods of time. The "baby" rooster thought he was big stuff, so they set him straight, but weren't really aggressive. The "baby" hen was very mild mannered, so she rarely got a peck from the others. 2 weeks ago we started letting them out with the flock all day, but still kept them in the crate overnight. Everyone got along well - really much better than I had expected. The 2 "babies" typically kept more with the 1 momma, but there was no pecking or bullying. About 5 days ago, when I went to close the coop for the night, the baby hen was up on the bars roosting with the other hens and did not want to come down, so I let her be and closed baby rooster up. Coincidentally, one of our other hens has a hurt leg, so I was keeping her in separate box. After 2 nights of the babies not wanting in the crate, I moved her into there and left the babies out. So, for 5ish nights, everyone slept fine inside the coop.
When I opened the coop this morning, the baby hen was in the back corner. *graphic details* Her head and neck looked wet and shiny. At the base of her neck were holes, mainly 1 larger hole underneath where I could see parts of her throat (smaller than a dime) and on top, 1 hole similar and slightly smaller. There were some other small marks, which I'm assuming were from pecking? There was no visible blood, and when I used rubber gloves to lift her up and remove her, nothing got on the gloves.
Did my other chickens turn on her? The coop was messy - dust and dirt filled the waterers and oyster shell bowl - but she was lying on top of the ground and was not covered in any dirt. Or could an intruder have gotten in? The coop is old and not fancy - built years ago by a previous owner - and the chickens often dig holes under the coop themselves. I fill them and block off whenever I seem them, and I did not see any holes around or under the coop this morning. We've never had an intruder in the coop before - having had our chickens a little over a year - but we live in the country so there's plenty of potential predators around.
Should I put the baby rooster back into the crate with my hurt chicken at night - assuming it was my own hens who killed the baby? Or is it more likely an outside predator? Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks!
Extra details...
We have 9 original chickens - 8 hens, 1 rooster, who are all around 1 year old. We let our broody hens hatch chicks, which were born just before Easter. The chicks have been inside the coop from the start, although we kept them in a separate crate. When they were only a week old, they managed to escape and 1 baby was killed. The other 2 were not harmed. We fortified the crate and kept them in there until about 3 weeks ago. We let them out for supervised periods of time. The "baby" rooster thought he was big stuff, so they set him straight, but weren't really aggressive. The "baby" hen was very mild mannered, so she rarely got a peck from the others. 2 weeks ago we started letting them out with the flock all day, but still kept them in the crate overnight. Everyone got along well - really much better than I had expected. The 2 "babies" typically kept more with the 1 momma, but there was no pecking or bullying. About 5 days ago, when I went to close the coop for the night, the baby hen was up on the bars roosting with the other hens and did not want to come down, so I let her be and closed baby rooster up. Coincidentally, one of our other hens has a hurt leg, so I was keeping her in separate box. After 2 nights of the babies not wanting in the crate, I moved her into there and left the babies out. So, for 5ish nights, everyone slept fine inside the coop.
When I opened the coop this morning, the baby hen was in the back corner. *graphic details* Her head and neck looked wet and shiny. At the base of her neck were holes, mainly 1 larger hole underneath where I could see parts of her throat (smaller than a dime) and on top, 1 hole similar and slightly smaller. There were some other small marks, which I'm assuming were from pecking? There was no visible blood, and when I used rubber gloves to lift her up and remove her, nothing got on the gloves.
Did my other chickens turn on her? The coop was messy - dust and dirt filled the waterers and oyster shell bowl - but she was lying on top of the ground and was not covered in any dirt. Or could an intruder have gotten in? The coop is old and not fancy - built years ago by a previous owner - and the chickens often dig holes under the coop themselves. I fill them and block off whenever I seem them, and I did not see any holes around or under the coop this morning. We've never had an intruder in the coop before - having had our chickens a little over a year - but we live in the country so there's plenty of potential predators around.
Should I put the baby rooster back into the crate with my hurt chicken at night - assuming it was my own hens who killed the baby? Or is it more likely an outside predator? Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks!
