Help! My hens attacked one of their sisters

[Chichi_08]

this morning my hens attacked one of their sisters. My husband heard the noise and came to her rescue. She was severely beaten/pecked at and had a white substance coming out of the wounds. We separated her from the rest but she didn't make it. I'm not sure why this would have happened. I double checked the run and do not see that any other predators got in. They all seem to be doing their normal chicken things. They had fresh water inside and outside the coop. Their feed was full. I'm very confused as to why they attacked her and afraid that they will continue to attack each other. Please help!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Generally chickens only get pecked to death when they can't escape, so I would assume your birds are confined.

Both confinement, and boredom can lead to pecking, as well as protein deficiencies. Once birds draw blood it can turn into a cannibalizing frenzy.

If you could share more information about your set up size, number of birds and what exactly you are feeding it could help to determine why it happened and hopefully prevent it from happening again.

 

[Chichi_08]

Generally chickens only get pecked to death when they can't escape, so I would assume your birds are confined.

Both confinement, and boredom can lead to pecking, as well as protein deficiencies. Once birds draw blood it can turn into a cannibalizing frenzy.

If you could share more information about your set up size, number of birds and what exactly you are feeding it could help to determine why it happened and hopefully prevent it from happening again.

Thank you for responding! We have (had) 10 red sexed link chickens. They are nearly 8 months old. No roosters. We feed them laying scratch (pellets) and treats (grass, vegetables, etc) the coop is 10x8 as is the run. They have two roosts inside and 4 nesting boxes. We use shavings inside the coop. The grass has long since been eaten by them but I use hay and grass clippings on the ground of the run. I also added several logs for them to climb into. They also have a dust bath as well.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sex links can become deficient on a layer ration if you feed anything else due to their higher production. I would switch asap to a higher protein ration like an all flock or a non medicated grower with a separate bowl of oyster shells for the calcium needs.

You may want to look to enlarge the run if possible, that's a pretty tight area for a breed as busy as a sex link or you could end up with more troubles.

 

[barred2rock]

Why not make underneath the coop part of the run? Also you might look into covering the whole thing in hardware cloth opposed to the chicken wire. Chicken wire is designed to keep chickens in, but not to keep predators out. Love the coop, btw...

 

[chickens really]

Hybrid layers are not as easy to keep as other Breeds of Chickens....I prefer Breeds that can handle confinement and don't require such dedication to feed and environment ...I had Hybrids once...Never again...
I now have Orpington, Speckled Sussex and Brahma....All docile Birds....
Best wishes with your Birds....