Pecking to DEATH

[mebuff daisy]

This winter one of my Partridge Rocks , Sally was pecked to DEATH

I can not believe her sisters did that to her.
I am heart broken

I think she was molting,she was my favorite hen.how do I prevent this ? I could not even bury her

 

[subhanalah]

What kind of food are you feeding them?

 

[mebuff daisy]

Layer ration by purina . They have water and I gave them scratch daily,I still cannot believe it. They have plenty of space but had not been
outside at all that winter . I gave them kitchen scraps too.

 

[subhanalah]

My first suggestion would be to increase their protein. Scratch is very low in protein and layer is not a high protein food to begin with.
Table scraps will also lower this factor.
You can feed them hard boiled eggs (mashed up so they don't look like eggs) and I would switch to a higher protein feed such as flock raiser but be sure to offer crushed oyster shell on the side.

I'm really sorry about your hen. Have you looked over the others for signs of external parasites? Red skin, bare belly/chest/vent. Do they shake their heads or scratch a lot?

I'm thinking maybe she was melting and there was another factor that was able to weaken her further during the stressful molt. Birds will attack the weaker members in the flock, probably because they are a liability.

Either that or your girls are protein starved and saw her weakened state as an excuse to get the protein they needed.

Maybe it was a little of both? Sometimes we just don't know why they do the things they do...

 

[mebuff daisy]

Thank you so much

I will switch to a flock raiser.Sally was low in the pecking order.What can be a treat for them beside scratch ? We sell our eggs and do not have any to spare.Thanks , Ann

 

[subhanalah]

Thank you so much   I will  switch to a flock raiser.Sally was low in the pecking order.What can be a treat for them beside scratch ? We sell our eggs and do not have any to spare.Thanks , Ann

mealworms, crickets, red wigglers. Mostly delicious bugs and scratch together make a good snack/treat but it should make up no more than 10% of their daily ration.
Veggie scraps are good, but again, should be included in that 10%.

 

[mebuff daisy]

Thank you very much

 

[The Covid Cottage]

This winter one of my Partridge Rocks , Sally was pecked to DEATH

I can not believe her sisters did that to her.
I am heart broken

I think she was molting,she was my favorite hen.how do I prevent this ? I could not even bury her

Do you think that what this is?? One day I noticed this and the next day she was dead.