- Mar 31, 2011
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Five years ago we were given 1 grown game rooster and 4 grown game hens. We've let them free range all this time, and have seen several batches of chicks raised. Within the last year we've lost the original rooster and hens to old age, and currently have 2 young roosters and 25 hens from the original ones. About a week ago a hen hatched out 11 chicks, and the next day another hen hatched out 7. After they were about 2-3 days old, we witnessed one of the young roosters peck a chick to death. We could not get there in time to stop it. We never saw that out of the original rooster. Today I came home to find the remaining chicks dead. They were all within a 4 to 5 foot area. Really wish I had not seen it...broke my heart. Is it a normal thing for a game rooster to kill chicks? Do we have a rogue rooster? The only thing different from the past four years is that about 1 year ago someone abandoned three Turken roosters on our property that we have raised. We did see the game rooster kill the one chick or I would suspect the Turkens. They seem to be more aggresive, and have just started to breed the hens. To me they seem to be predatory and gang up on a hen when they breed them. I don't know if the introduction of the Turkens into the group has anything to do with the killing of the chicks. I have read that hens will kill chicks but we have not seen that behavior from them before or now. They are free-ranging on a 80 acre peice of property, so I think (hope) they have enough room. We know we lose a certain amount to Hawks and other predatory animals, but have never lost them at this rate. Does anyone have advice on this?
