Hens killed 12 week old pullet

[rosemarythyme]

I almost wonder if the disruption was so much that my existing hen was attacked or too stressed leading to her death. Of the three she was the outlier, with my tiny alpha pearl and her big sidekick Molly being a pair. They were all hatchmates but merida rip tended to kind of hang on her own a bit more. I did find a new flock for the baby, so I'll just hang with thing one and thing two until they go to their reward. They both wanted me to love on them today, but they are stalking that babies pen like velociraptors. Pacing pacing pacing and trying to force their heads into the wire. They want to kill her too. They have also gone after the dogs and cornered the corgi.
Is this a Red sex link thing? Or do I just have really mean hens?

Unfortunately without camera footage (and being unable to see into the mind of an animal) we'll never really know what happened. Possibly the hen could've had a heart attack and simply died, and somehow her sudden death caused the other 2 to stress out and then flip out on the pullet, but who can say for sure?

RSLs (assuming they're RIR based) can possibly be more aggressive, but still unusual for chickens to suddenly turn on a bird they've already been socializing with for a few weeks, especially if the pullet wasn't showing sign of illness or anything like that. If you'd simply thrown the pullet into the coop without any introduction, then maybe, but from all indications a proper introduction was done here.

 

[SourRoses]

Please stop thinking you did something wrong. It sounds like you did everything right. Sometimes stuff just happens with animals.
It also sounds like chicken keeping is not fun for you right now.
If I were you... I'd find a new home for the adult hens and start over with cute baby chicks. You should get to have fun with this hobby.
Pick breeds known to be nice and you shouldn't have so much trouble in the future. What about some nice Orpington pullets? Or Faverolles?
Personally, when we made the decision to stick with docile breeds it refreshed the hobby for us.

 

[PoppasGrill]

We’ve introduced several clutches over the past few years, with good results, other than a few bullies and pecking order squabbles.
Our latest pullets were set to be let out last weekend and immediately got attacked. The hen was very aggressive and ,when the little ones ran back in, she went around the outside pecking at the wire near where any of the pullets were.
We don’t understand this aggressiveness, but will put the pullets in a different coop so they will only interact during free range time.
It’s frustrating, but if you enjoy keeping chickens there will usually be a solution, you just haven’t thought of it yet.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Please stop thinking you did something wrong. It sounds like you did everything right. Sometimes stuff just happens with animals.

I totally agree with Roses here! As @Ridgerunner often says, with living animals you don't get guarantees. You can do everything right and still get surprises, sometimes unpleasant, unfortunate or even deadly ones. I also agree with some of the other posters here, please don't give up on your hobby entirely. Look to the future when you can start over with some sweet, adorable baby chicks and enjoy your chickens again. Best wishes to you.