Is this normal?

[CashewVulture]

We had a group of 10 chickens living together in the same coop. Over a week ago, 3 were killed by a wandering dog.

Our barred rock (a year old and a half), has displayed weird behaviors since this happened. Normally she LOVES to wander outside on her own. She also had finished her yearly molt in October 2024, so her feathers were all clean and new.

Now, after the attack

She doesn’t wander outside on her own, in fact she doesn’t spend that much time outside. She is also
molting, losing lots and lots of feathers and growing pin feathers (she started this molt 4 days after the attack)



In the chickens who were killed, one was her only hatch mate, the other was another hen, and the third was the leader rooster.

It’s been over a week since the attack and she is still acting like this. I’m wondering if this is common behavior for chickens after traumatic events?


Below are pictures of her with her hatch buddy who was killed.

 

[Debbie292d]

So sorry for your loss.

A few years ago we adopted 2 hens and a rooster from someone who had a fox attack and kill the other 8 or so she had. Being rehomed is hard enough, but most get over that pretty quick. Two of the three took a couple of weeks before I could even get near them. They'd all three freak out. These were silkies, so not in their nature not to be friendly. One of the hens took months to leave the immediate area of the coop. She'd watch her two siblings go free ranging and she'd not leave.

I guess there isn't a way to know how long it takes as we don't know how they understand things, if at all. They know fear though, but they also know love and kindness. I'd just continue talking softly, moving slowly, and trying to gain their confidence back.

I'd up her/their protein if you can. Scrambled eggs is a good treat high in protein. All-flock is usually 20% so if they aren't on that, you could try it. It'd help her feathers.

Extra vitamins by way of something like Poultry Cell in their water a couple times a week would help too.

 

[AGeese]

We had a group of 10 chickens living together in the same coop. Over a week ago, 3 were killed by a wandering dog.

Our barred rock (a year old and a half), has displayed weird behaviors since this happened. Normally she LOVES to wander outside on her own. She also had finished her yearly molt in October 2024, so her feathers were all clean and new.

Now, after the attack

She doesn’t wander outside on her own, in fact she doesn’t spend that much time outside. She is also
molting, losing lots and lots of feathers and growing pin feathers (she started this molt 4 days after the attack)



In the chickens who were killed, one was her only hatch mate, the other was another hen, and the third was the leader rooster.

It’s been over a week since the attack and she is still acting like this. I’m wondering if this is common behavior for chickens after traumatic events?


Below are pictures of her with her hatch buddy who was killed.

Yes chickens are flock animals so that will have an effect on them.

 

[CashewVulture]

So sorry for your loss.

A few years ago we adopted 2 hens and a rooster from someone who had a fox attack and kill the other 8 or so she had. Being rehomed is hard enough, but most get over that pretty quick. Two of the three took a couple of weeks before I could even get near them. They'd all three freak out. These were silkies, so not in their nature not to be friendly. One of the hens took months to leave the immediate area of the coop. She'd watch her two siblings go free ranging and she'd not leave.

I guess there isn't a way to know how long it takes as we don't know how they understand things, if at all. They know fear though, but they also know love and kindness. I'd just continue talking softly, moving slowly, and trying to gain their confidence back.

I'd up her/their protein if you can. Scrambled eggs is a good treat high in protein. All-flock is usually 20% so if they aren't on that, you could try it. It'd help her feathers.

Extra vitamins by way of something like Poultry Cell in their water a couple times a week would help too.

Thank you!
I will try to give her more protein and vitamins. I hope she will feel better soon. She seems to be the only hen who was actually affected. The others are all back to normal, including a hen who got feathers ripped out by the dog and survived.

 

[Perris]

Thank you!
I will try to give her more protein and vitamins. I hope she will feel better soon. She seems to be the only hen who was actually affected. The others are all back to normal, including a hen who got feathers ripped out by the dog and survived.

sorry for your loss

we have had similar and as others have said, it can take a while for the more sensitive survivors to recover their mojo. Seeing the rest getting back to normal should help her though, as well as lots of tlc and treats from you

 

[Mrs. K]

They are discombobulated after an attack. Was she also attacked, but escaped?

Generally in a week or so, they are fine