Hen's fighting ~ 1 dead hen

[Marmalute]

Last week we found one hen dead in the hen house. Tonight after I put the hens back in the hen house after grazing I closed the door.....a few minutes later we heard fighting. I opened the door up to find 4 bully hens attacking one lone hen. She was coward in the corner. They chased her to another corner and yet another one till I stopped the fight. They've always gotten along together.

Hubby did find a suspcious pile of dirt by the hen house about a foot away. Looked to me like an ant mound but there were no ants. We live in PA it's not like we have TX fire ants.

The one hen has lost a lot of her feathers on her back. I'm not sure if they are picking them out of her or what. Why would my hens fight like this? They are all the same age.

No rooster for almost a year.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Hens can get pretty nasty with each other. They are trying to establish a pecking order, so to speak. If the hen missing feathers has any peck marks on separate her until her feathers grow back or they will continue picking at her.

Some things to ask yourself. Do they have enough room in the coop? Is their perhaps a lack of protein in their diet, this can lead to over pecking, feather eating and cannibalism.

 

[Marmalute]

Ange we do have plenty of room. We at one time had 12 hens and 1 rooster, but gave 6 of the hens to my sister in law who needed them more than we did.

I will go to the feed store tomorrow and see about getting some sort of protein. Do you have a suggestion?

We have for the past 2 1/2 years fed them corn, mash, and egg maker. I was told that's all they needed. And so far it has been until maybe now. We've also fed them vegetable scraps.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Well layer feed should be enough for them.

So I don't really know other then it's a dominant issue.

 

[wendy]

did you say you recently lost a hen? maybe they are stressed because they know she is gone. what about vitamins and electrolytes in there water. they say on there it helps with stress!