help me please!!!!

[alyssa01092002]

hi I have six road island reds all hens no rooster i love them all like family and today it is snowing outside and I go out to take care of them and when I was giving them food one of them saw the snow and jumped out and when she was eating the snow I had noticed that everytime she would eat the snow or peck the ground I would see red spots so when I picked her up and looked at her crown was coverd in fresh blood then i put her back in here then I go up on my porch and get straw and I come back and 5 of them jump out and they had blood all over them I start to freak out because I raised them from eggs and I was sad and on the other side of he coop is a divider aand the ducks are in that side so I open the little screen cover and all over the wood blood stains all over the place my mom was out with me and she said they were just fighting but they had never had problems before why are they doing this I mean I love them so much and I want them to stop I cant separate them because its winter and the only way is to put them outside but its winter so that's out of the question I realy don't want them to suffer or die please please help


edited by staff

 

[Judy]

They will attack each other if they feel overcrowded. There is no reason to keep them in the coop because it is winter or there is snow on the ground. They have their own insulation. However, they usually prefer not to walk on snow.

 

[alyssa01092002]

I cant let them out because I don't have fencing and I live near railroad traks and they will get hit by a train and my grandfather wont let them rome because the dogs will eat their poop and get sick but thanks a lot for the advice

 

[bobbi-j]

Your chickens hopefully aren't so stupid that they will get hit by a train. Trust me, they would get out of the way if they heard it coming. If they don't, well... it would be a favor to get them out of the gene pool. Your grandfather, on the other hand, is a different story. If you live with him or your chickens are on his property, you need to respect his decision. Which pretty much leaves you with only a few options. 1: Do chores, get a job, or save your allowance and buy some fence to build a run so they have a little more room to roam. 2: Save money enough to build them a bigger coop. How much space do they have right now? 3: If you can't give them more room, find a new home for some of them so the others have enough room. Or, you could just let things be and keep having them attack each other because they're bored and possibly over-crowded.

 

[alyssa01092002]

well thanks but I have a way to figure it out and im well I cant say my age but im 10+2 but thanks for the info what im going to is I have a dog run so im going to put them in there put a plasic form around it ad put 2 heat lams in there since its like 0 degresse here and let the divider out of the coop to let the ducks have room do ya think that will work

 

[bobbi-j]

If the run is big enough, it should work as long as they can get out of the wind. Will you be able to put some straw or other bedding down on the ground for them to scratch through, or settle down in to keep warm? They really don't need the heat lamps if they're in a dry, draft-free area. Adding extra heat can actually cause more harm than good because they won't be acclimated to the cold. Then, if for some reason your electricity goes out, you will have chickens that aren't used to the cold in the cold with no extra feathering to protect them. I am familiar with cold weather. I live in MN, and it's been well below zero here several times already and will be again tonight. I don't have any extra heat in my coop, and actually plan on going out soon and opening the door wide to the one coop so my chickens can get some good, natural light for awhile today. The pop door is always open, but they choose not to go out into the snow. They aren't too fond of it.

Good luck, I hope you can get it worked out.

 

[alyssa01092002]

okay thanks alot