Poor Snowbell!!

[Minniechickmama]

So I am out doing chores today. I went in and fed everyone. I went outside and did the feeding in the outside coops and ducks. Went back in, dumped all the ice out of pans. Everyone was fine and running around in their pens.
I go out to fill buckets of water and open the door to complete mayhem! The chickens in the far pen especially were going berserk! I start watering and get to the Minorca pen and here lays my one non-Minorca, Snowbell the White Cochin, laying there dead! What the heck happened?!?!?!?! The only thing I can figure is that the pen went into spaz mode as they sometimes do when my young boys try breeding and it freaks out the young girls. I think her neck was broken. I am so peeved. She was the only White Cochin I had, so it isn't a great loss from my breeding program, but still, I really liked her. I only name the ones I really like. Hubby said we can hook up some cameras in the pens, that way we can see what goes on when we are not there.
I hope this is not the beginning of things to come.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

I am so sorry! I haven't had a chicken die yet, but other pets of mine have.

 

[farmgirl1995]

Oh I'm so sorry! It always sucks to lose a chicken.

 

[sourland]

Excessive roosters gang breeding hens is a recipe for disaster. Serious injuries and even deaths under these circumstances are not unusual.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I don't think it was gang breeding, but the young stupid boys in there haven't quite figured out how to approach the girls in a nice way. I have 3 boys and 8 girls in that pen. Honestly, the roughest one is one of the pullets.
Thanks for the sympathy. I was just shocked that she was fine one minute and dead a few later.

 

[Tripp16]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Im always afraid when my girls spaz over stupid stuff that one day they might get stuck in the fence and break their neck.

Hope your boys settle down a bit....

 

[Peaches Lee]

I'm no expert but I think that 3 roos to 8 hens is too many roos in there. I think the ideal ratio is 1 roo to 6-8 hens. I would try removing two of the roos. Hope this works out for you.

 

[KarenP]

Do you have a place for them to roost in the run outside? I find that when things get crazy in my run, the ones who are calmer go up on the roost to get away from it all.

 

[RedIII]

Quote:
x2

Also, are you sure she wasn't shot at? I know it's nasty to say, but sometimes neighbors can be real jerks to animals.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Quote:
Oops, that was a typo. I have 2 roos/cockerels in the pen. I know, I would like to have more hens in each pen, but here is the problem, I don't have a space for extra roos at the moment and I tried to keep 2 of each breed so if I lose a roo for any reason, I still have one to breed with. I ran into that problem last year and couldn't breed some of the breeds I had.