- May 2, 2014
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I have a small flock consisting of 6 mature hens, a rooster, and (had) 7 pullets, about 4 months old... that is until they all started being taken out by one or more of the older chickens!
Our coop and run are pretty large. We have had several larger flocks than the current size live there peacefully in the past. The chickens come outside to free range forage every afternoon once someone is home to keep an eye on things. The pullets lived in a separate pen in the coop (separated by chicken wire, so they still were next to the rest of the flock) from the time they were peeps until a little over a month ago. Once they were fully feathered and nearly adult sized, we introduced them to the main part of the coop one evening, and they have had no problems for the first 3 or 4 weeks.
Last Friday afternoon, however, I let the birds out for their daily forage, and about an hour later, found one of the pullets laying in the mud on its size, gasping to breathe, with cuts and bleeding all over her face and head. It looked like she might have even lost an eye at the time. I brought her inside, she was pretty non-responsive, but I cleaned out her wounds, got a few drops of electrolyte/vitamin solution into her, and use Vetericyn spray on her cuts. I kept her in a box inside my garage for the night, and when she was still alive the next day, I put her in the brooder pen in the coop by herself to recover. I kept her cuts clean, she started to eat and drink on her own, and is now acting normally, and her "lost" eye is beginning to open back up as she heals. I will leave her there until she has fully healed to prevent any chicken pecking.
Anyway, I thought at the time that maybe she'd been unsuccessfully grabbed by a predator. It was unusual, and it happened outside, so I put the other birds back in the coop like normal that evening. The next day all was fine, but then on Sunday, I went out to the coop and there were two dead pullets in the run, both with head wounds (I thought one might not even have a head left at first), and another acting catatonic with no visible wounds. At that point, I knew it was obviously happening between the chickens, and I managed to separate the remaining young birds, who are now living in an old duck pen separate completely from the rest of the flock. I thought that catatonic pullet was just in shock, and began mixing electrolyte/vitamins into their water, but she sadly never recovered and died overnight last night. IDK if she starved herself or had some other injury I couldn't see, but I'm sad she was another casualty of whatever is happening in the coop.
All that said, I have no idea which of my older chickens caused this, or what made them turn. I have one hen who was at the bottom of the pecking order pre-pullets, who is kind of aggressive even with people and dogs (she'll steal sticks or treats right out of the dog's mouth and run off from it, and is constantly underfoot pecking at our feet). I've seen her kind of chase off the pullets out in the yard over food, but never being outright mean. My other suspect is a 2 year old rooster who I have never observed being mean to any of my older birds, but in the coop, would peck at the younger ones during feeding time (like to push them away from the feeders; but he didn't chase them or anything). I haven't ever seen anything aggressive from the rest of the flock. I obviously don't want to keep a murderous chicken, but I don't know how to tell for sure who is doing it without subjecting my remaining 3 healthy pullets to another attack so that I can watch with a camera or something.
I guess my question is, is this something that might improve as the pullets age (they were hatched in late April), what would cause things to be fine for weeks, and then chickens are all of a sudden getting stomped, and is there any hope of finding out who the aggressor is without risking another pullet getting attacked?
Our coop and run are pretty large. We have had several larger flocks than the current size live there peacefully in the past. The chickens come outside to free range forage every afternoon once someone is home to keep an eye on things. The pullets lived in a separate pen in the coop (separated by chicken wire, so they still were next to the rest of the flock) from the time they were peeps until a little over a month ago. Once they were fully feathered and nearly adult sized, we introduced them to the main part of the coop one evening, and they have had no problems for the first 3 or 4 weeks.
Last Friday afternoon, however, I let the birds out for their daily forage, and about an hour later, found one of the pullets laying in the mud on its size, gasping to breathe, with cuts and bleeding all over her face and head. It looked like she might have even lost an eye at the time. I brought her inside, she was pretty non-responsive, but I cleaned out her wounds, got a few drops of electrolyte/vitamin solution into her, and use Vetericyn spray on her cuts. I kept her in a box inside my garage for the night, and when she was still alive the next day, I put her in the brooder pen in the coop by herself to recover. I kept her cuts clean, she started to eat and drink on her own, and is now acting normally, and her "lost" eye is beginning to open back up as she heals. I will leave her there until she has fully healed to prevent any chicken pecking.
Anyway, I thought at the time that maybe she'd been unsuccessfully grabbed by a predator. It was unusual, and it happened outside, so I put the other birds back in the coop like normal that evening. The next day all was fine, but then on Sunday, I went out to the coop and there were two dead pullets in the run, both with head wounds (I thought one might not even have a head left at first), and another acting catatonic with no visible wounds. At that point, I knew it was obviously happening between the chickens, and I managed to separate the remaining young birds, who are now living in an old duck pen separate completely from the rest of the flock. I thought that catatonic pullet was just in shock, and began mixing electrolyte/vitamins into their water, but she sadly never recovered and died overnight last night. IDK if she starved herself or had some other injury I couldn't see, but I'm sad she was another casualty of whatever is happening in the coop.
All that said, I have no idea which of my older chickens caused this, or what made them turn. I have one hen who was at the bottom of the pecking order pre-pullets, who is kind of aggressive even with people and dogs (she'll steal sticks or treats right out of the dog's mouth and run off from it, and is constantly underfoot pecking at our feet). I've seen her kind of chase off the pullets out in the yard over food, but never being outright mean. My other suspect is a 2 year old rooster who I have never observed being mean to any of my older birds, but in the coop, would peck at the younger ones during feeding time (like to push them away from the feeders; but he didn't chase them or anything). I haven't ever seen anything aggressive from the rest of the flock. I obviously don't want to keep a murderous chicken, but I don't know how to tell for sure who is doing it without subjecting my remaining 3 healthy pullets to another attack so that I can watch with a camera or something.
I guess my question is, is this something that might improve as the pullets age (they were hatched in late April), what would cause things to be fine for weeks, and then chickens are all of a sudden getting stomped, and is there any hope of finding out who the aggressor is without risking another pullet getting attacked?
