don't know what to do!!!

[pbminvt12]

5 month old chicken, saw blood and missing feathers at vent...separated her for now, other chickens pecking and drawing more blood....ugh.....had the same thing happen to another chick 2weeks ago, didn't separate her and they pecked her to death....ive seen pics of prolapse and I don't think that was it is...if she has mites or lice would they peck her till she's raw? what am to do?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Check her and others for mites and lice. Roost mites only come out at night so you need to check for them after dark. They normally like the vent area because of the moisture so check there first. Roost mites will run from the light of a flashlight.

Is it possible a possum is getting into your coop and chewing on that chicken’s vent area while they are on the roost at night? Possum’s normally attack the vent area but usually when they do they kill the chicken. Maybe it is a baby possum? I’ll also throw out the possibility it is a rat doing that, but I don’t know enough about what rats do to really know.

If a chicken is wounded and bleeding the others will often peck it and kill it. You saw that.

It’s possible that hen had a partial prolapse, they started pecking, and she then drew it back inside. By then she was wounded. With it happening to two of them, that sure doesn’t sound likely. I’d suspect something else is going on.

Good luck with it. Sometimes these things can be hard to figure out.

 

[Eggcessive]

When you have the time you should spend some time just sitting in your chicken yard watching their behavior. If you see bullies, they should be separated in chicken jail for a week, then put back into the flock, where they will hopefully be lower in the pecking order. If they still are bullies they should be culled or given away.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Had another thought. What are you feeding them? If their diet is low in protein that can lead to feather-picking. If you re feeding them a lot of low-protein stuff, you might try upping the protein in their diet or feeding less low-protein stuff.

Another thought. How much room do they have? Them being crowded can lead to antisocial behaviors like feather-picking, fighting, and even lead to cannibalism if one gets injured.

Like I said, these things are not always easy.