Could you have a predator/rat problem?
We had a problem with rats killing our juveniles and one adult hen last year and then the blood caused the other juveniles to cannibalize the injured birds. It's extremely gruesome. But the rats ate into the vents of the juveniles and ate out their intestines and also some other organs in some cases.
Some of the birds were still alive when we went out to check on them. Still alive but with no innards. We put them down immediately to end their suffering.
On more than one occasion we would do chores leave the coop and within a half hour would go back out and find dead or dead walking birds. Usually it took a couple hours before birds were found in that shape. One bird was saved but lost his oil gland above his tail.
We finally discovered the rats and killed them. However I've also heard and read that members of the weasel family could also cause similar injuries.
The rats also got in and killed 3 quail that were housed in cages in our main chicken coop. Our main coop is an old converted 2 room milk house that has a concrete foundation that goes about 12-16" up. The rats ate holes in this foundation and into the walls. The mature hen they killed was also in this coop. The juveniles were in another coop on the property that did not have a concrete foundation. We had layed tin down around it to keep predators from digging in and there was no visible sign something had dug in from the outside.
Note: We had never even seen rats around before and were very shocked. I believe the two attacking the birds were an original pair that moved in and they were absolutely huge! Their bodies alone were over 16" long without the tail. I believe the rats became a problem because a down barn was cleaned up that year.
Again we have also had problems with a mink as well but the rats were seen in both coops. After we killed off the rats the birds stopped dieing and we have had no cannibalism since. Despite that it's supposed to be a learned behavior.
We had a problem with rats killing our juveniles and one adult hen last year and then the blood caused the other juveniles to cannibalize the injured birds. It's extremely gruesome. But the rats ate into the vents of the juveniles and ate out their intestines and also some other organs in some cases.
Some of the birds were still alive when we went out to check on them. Still alive but with no innards. We put them down immediately to end their suffering.
On more than one occasion we would do chores leave the coop and within a half hour would go back out and find dead or dead walking birds. Usually it took a couple hours before birds were found in that shape. One bird was saved but lost his oil gland above his tail.
We finally discovered the rats and killed them. However I've also heard and read that members of the weasel family could also cause similar injuries.
The rats also got in and killed 3 quail that were housed in cages in our main chicken coop. Our main coop is an old converted 2 room milk house that has a concrete foundation that goes about 12-16" up. The rats ate holes in this foundation and into the walls. The mature hen they killed was also in this coop. The juveniles were in another coop on the property that did not have a concrete foundation. We had layed tin down around it to keep predators from digging in and there was no visible sign something had dug in from the outside.
Note: We had never even seen rats around before and were very shocked. I believe the two attacking the birds were an original pair that moved in and they were absolutely huge! Their bodies alone were over 16" long without the tail. I believe the rats became a problem because a down barn was cleaned up that year.
Again we have also had problems with a mink as well but the rats were seen in both coops. After we killed off the rats the birds stopped dieing and we have had no cannibalism since. Despite that it's supposed to be a learned behavior.
