MY CHICKENS ARE KILLING EACH OTHER!!

[HunterUSArmy]

There is some photos of the coop any ideas or if anything you wanna know more about let me know

 

[1muttsfan]

Is there a door on the opening leading into the pen? if so it should be closed at night. if not you need one. Hardware cloth would be better on all the openings, and at least the bottom 2 feet of the fence.

 

[valjean]

How is the fencing secured at the bottom? Could an animal be slipping underneath? My fence is hardware cloth sunk about 1 foot down into the ground, then heavy rocks placed against the bottom part of the fence for an added deterrent. It's amazing how wily predatory animals are, if that is indeed your problem. I hope you figure it out!

 

[KrystalRose]

I only had one instance of a chick getting picked on, I had decided they were big enough to go outside to the run so I supervised them during the afternoon and they did fine, the next morning I let the automatic chicken door open on its own, well when I went to check on them on my way to work some had escaped so I had to lock them back up in the coop for the day until I could get home and reinforce the fencing, well during that period of time they got mad realizing what they were missing and took it out on the breast of one of the chicks and plucked all the feathers out. I made some homemade blu-kote from mixing honey, blue food coloring, and lemon essential oil and applied that to the chicks chest, thankfully that did the trick and even without separating it nobody picked at that spot again. I guess what I am getting at is that the only instance I have had is when they were really bored and frustrated, maybe if it is the chickens picking on each other try some boredom busters?

 

[HunterUSArmy]

Well...another night...another attack....one less chicken....two left I'm getting very frustrated the attacks are happening at night breast and neck damage in the coop..so I have pretty much ruled out chickens attacking each other cause the two I have left are traumatized I checked on them till about eleven then when I woke up at five am to check on them one was killed

 

[HunterUSArmy]

As far as fencing two different size chicken wire double wrapped to ground not buried but I'm not seeing where anything went under or thru the fence

 

[1muttsfan]

Bury hardware cloth or make an apron around the outside of the pen. Look in the coops section for examples of securing a run.

Again, do you close the birds inside the coop at night? With a door? And your windows are not secure covered with just chicken wire.

Chicken wire its made to keep chickens in, not predators out. Hardware cloth is much more secure.

 

[1muttsfan]

You might consider bringing your survivors inside at night until you secure your run and coop.

 

[HunterUSArmy]

Yeah I have a glassed in front porch where they can sleep till I get it resolved. Guess I'm going have get hardware cloth and add to it

 

[Chipper Chicken]

This is so sad, I am so sorry for you. Predators can squeeze through incredibly small openings anyway, and you won't like hearing this, but "chicken wire" is ONLY good for separating chickens from each other, it does not have the strength or small enough openings to keep out a determined predator. Which is what you have. The good news if you can call it that is it's attacking only at night, right? So you have until tonight to protect your other two hens and figure this out. You may need to make some tempory arrangements to keep them safe, while you work at turning your coop into Fort Knox. I'd suggest start with their roosting area and go over it closely. ANY hole bigger than an half inch you'll need to plug with something strong. 1/2" hardware cloth, the sturdy wire mesh, is really the only way to go on the coop. The window by their roost for example, a weasel, snake, a rat, a dozens things maybe could get through there. They need air, ventilation yes, but that is at least one spot that popped out to me as an possible entry point Look at the roof, floor, use a flashlight and someone on the other side to look for holes you didn't know we're there.
Do you have any other chicken people around that can keep your hens for a couple days, until you get this taken care of?
Good luck, I'm sure you'll figure it out.