Struggling to get new chickens integrated- HELP!

[aart]

Ok thanks for the info. The box on the coop said good for 8 chickens. Clearly not true. We are willing to get a bigger coop if that would solve the problem.

Yeah, the boxes lie....you're not the first to fall for it.
A bigger coop would definitely help......go as big as you can possibly go.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Ok so should we integrate the barred rock back in again? She's been seperated a few hours now. We will check all chicken wore closely. It's strange they only killed one bird

If aart's right and it's a weasel, the only reason it didn't kill more of your chickens is because it got interrupted.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some of the predators that normally go for the head first are hawks, owls, weasels, bobcat, skunks, and raccoons. There are probably others. Just because a predator normally does something doesn’t mean all of that type of predators do the same thing. Maybe they get interrupted, maybe you just get a strange one. Still tendencies are about all you have to work with.

I’ve had a chicken killed by another. A cockerel killed a rival by pecking its head. The head was not missing but the back of the brain was opened up. Not a pretty sight. The only time I’ve seen a head totally missing was when an owl got one. It just ripped the head off.

Did you examine the body of the dead chicken for wounds. Often you will see claw marks, like from a bobcat, hawk, or owl.

I tend to think weasel too but boy these things can be tough to figure out.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Some of the predators that normally go for the head first are hawks, owls, weasels, bobcat, skunks, and raccoons. There are probably others. Just because a predator normally does something doesn’t mean all of that type of predators do the same thing. Maybe they get interrupted, maybe you just get a strange one. Still tendencies are about all you have to work with.

I’ve had a chicken killed by another. A cockerel killed a rival by pecking its head. The head was not missing but the back of the brain was opened up. Not a pretty sight. The only time I’ve seen a head totally missing was when an owl got one. It just ripped the head off.

Did you examine the body of the dead chicken for wounds. Often you will see claw marks, like from a bobcat, hawk, or owl.

I tend to think weasel too but boy these things can be tough to figure out.

Ridgerunner makes some great points.

And without actually being on site and looking for sign...we're all just guessing here.

 

[Intheswamp]

A good game camera set up at night inside the run....of course if you caught the predator on the camera it would mean that another chicken probably went to chicken heaven.<sigh>

 

[kostfarm]

We didn't see any other marks on the chicken but I was too horrified to look super up close. It looked like just the entire head and that's it. We are going to set up traps tonight and put more hardwire cloth everywhere. Def will look into getting a bigger coop for our girl we are trying to integrate. This is all so devastating.

 

[Intheswamp]

Going back to the report of the killed BR... Blood inside the coop, kostfarm stated it looked like she was killed in the coop....but a headless body was found outside in the run. There might be some aggression coming from the sex-links but it makes me think something grabbed the BR by the neck inside the coop in a death bite and the chicken flopped around throwing blood here and there. Once the chicken ceased it's fighting/flopping strenuously whatever critter had it drug it outside where it proceeded to eat the head.

kostfarm, I think only time and slowly introducing the BR to the others will integrate her into the flock. A larger coop (and run) would be great for the chickens but it won't be a magic solution to getting them to all get along together...time and patience. That coop really is too small to house anything over 3-4 chickens. To have a dozen or so chickens an 8x8 would be a nice size...can be built using sheet goods (like 4x8 sheets of plywood and T1-11 siding and some 2x4 lumber.

 

[Intheswamp]

We didn't see any other marks on the chicken but I was too horrified to look super up close. It looked like just the entire head and that's it. We are going to set up traps tonight and put more hardwire cloth everywhere. Def will look into getting a bigger coop for our girl we are trying to integrate. This is all so devastating.

Hang in there, you can handle it....you're a chicken farmer now.

Ed

 

[lcertuche]

They killed one of the barred rocks this morning. When I went out there she was laying on the floor of the run with no head. I was horrified and still am so heartbroken. It looks like they attacked her in the coop. There's blood all throughout the coop. We went ahead and sepearted the other barred rock and put her back in the dog crate. Not sure what happened or what to do now. They all seemed fine and then Something this morning made them snap. I've attached a picture of our set up. Maybe it was too crowded

Here I would expect a headless chicken to be the victim of a opossum attack. They climb trees and probably just got in from the top if it wasn't through the gate or digging under. Probably the best defense is an electric line around the coup and run. If you had a good chicken dog it could sleep in the coop at night to scare away the critters. Unfortunately our dog would be the threat.

 

[kostfarm]

Thank you all so much for your support. This is very helpful. Do you guys think the remaining barred rock will ever be able to get integrated now that she's a Lone Ranger? I'm worried about her.