Should I be concerned? Dead Chicken

[mrstillery09]

I had a flock of 10 chickens, 9 hens and one rooster. My parents have been taking care of my chickens (as we recently relocated). My dad is a farmer and knows quite a bit about animals, so for the most part they are in safe hands. The other day he went down to feed and water them and a chicken was dead. I didn't find out until yesterday that apparently the other chickens had basically ripped her apart. At least that's how it sounded. My dad said one of her wings was off. He didn't see any signs of a predator, and all the other chickens were ok. I checked them yesterday and they all seem fine and happy. Should I be worried about this? Do you think this was a one time event? My dad said the rooster is rough when he mates the chickens but there is no feather loss that I see, and the few times I've seen him mate he didn't seem overly aggressive. The rooster is a barred rock rooster and is a pretty big guy, and the hen was the smallest of the bunch. I don't know if that matters though!

Thanks for any thoughts, opinions or advice!

 

[Judy]

It's possible that the chickens simply started eating the dead one. It's possible that a predator (a dog would be a good candidate) killed her, maybe without meaning to; dogs will "play" with them and kill them in the process, without making any attempt to eat them. It's possible she just died a natural death. I think it's unlikely the rooster is at fault.

 

[mrstillery09]

I also thought it would be unlikely that it was the roosters fault! They are in a hoop house, and there is no way a dog could have gotten in...at least not without leaving some evidence. I'm hoping it was maybe just the heat or something as it has been terribly hot here lately.

 

[marianne7]

I had a flock of 10 chickens, 9 hens and one rooster. My parents have been taking care of my chickens (as we recently relocated). My dad is a farmer and knows quite a bit about animals, so for the most part they are in safe hands. The other day he went down to feed and water them and a chicken was dead. I didn't find out until yesterday that apparently the other chickens had basically ripped her apart. At least that's how it sounded. My dad said one of her wings was off. He didn't see any signs of a predator, and all the other chickens were ok. I checked them yesterday and they all seem fine and happy. Should I be worried about this? Do you think this was a one time event? My dad said the rooster is rough when he mates the chickens but there is no feather loss that I see, and the few times I've seen him mate he didn't seem overly aggressive. The rooster is a barred rock rooster and is a pretty big guy, and the hen was the smallest of the bunch. I don't know if that matters though!

Thanks for any thoughts, opinions or advice!

Could be that she got injured somehow, if this is the case, other chickens will attack wounded chickens...not saying that this did happen but it is a possiblity, Chickens do tend to pick on a weaker chicken, other than this, I don't know....If it was a predator I think it would have killed more than one....