Sudden flock violence w/injuries

[RoeDylanda]

Hi, all, trying not to sound scrambled/frantic here but my 7 year old just came running in the house to tell me "the chickens have red stuff on their heads!" All 6 are there, all of them have head lacerations. One hen has bright red blood on her beak & is panting. She's alone in the run now, another is latched in the coop, one is secured in the dog crate and the other 3 are free-ranging until I figure out what happened. We have hens only, no rooster.

They've had minor dominance squabbles before now but never this kind of injury. We were out for 3 hours and came home to this. One, who is a biter anyway, was extremely aggressive to me when I went in the coop to separate the birds. What caused this? What can I do? I have Blu-kote but I don't know if they'll let me clean their heads. Can anyone help?

Thank you, thank you.

 

[brahmakid11]

sorry about your chickens fighting. i have 38 chickens they all fight.

 

[RoeDylanda]

Four heads cleaned, but no visible wounds so far. Where did all this blood come from, then? The one with the bloody beak is too far under the coop to see what's up with her. The aggressive one is now in the dog crate, and I hope she is contemplating her future because I'm seriously thinking of culling her. The others are free ranging in the yard, occasionally pecking each other's heads. Why did I want these things, again?

 

[BooBear]

May want to use the blue kote on them if they are still pecking.
All it takes is one to bleed to morph them into yard pirhanas.
I would be wanting to cull the most aggressive one too if she is showing people aggression. Hens can be just as big turds as roosters.

A rooster actually helps keep order in a flock. If you are in an area that allows it you want to consider it. Hopefully, just removing the instigstor will make a big difference though.

 

[RoeDylanda]

Thanks-- they're blu-koted now and the instigator is spending the night in the cat carrier with food and water as I ponder her future. The biggest victim, whose beak appears damaged, is safe in the dog crate in the living room for tonight. I'll reintroduce her in the morning and watch them.

BooBear, you made me laugh! I wish I could take your advice. My town allows roosters but both sets of neighbors have requested that we not get one, so we're stuck with just the hens.

I appreciate the help, both of you. Thank you.

 

[centrarchid]

If they are not game chickens and have the ability to get away from each other, then I would not worry about such fights unless it is very hot. It takes very little to make the comb and wattles bleed and that very little is seldom serious. Such rank changes / challenges happen more than most suspect. It just difficult to detect unless you happen to be there while or immediately after it happens.

 

[taprock]

I'm glad you got everyone taken care of and settled. I hate when there are fights. On Sunday our weather changed and since then all we have had is squabbles. Before it was too hot for them to think about fighting and now that it has cooled down I guess they have the energy to argue. If you know who is causing the problems that makes things much easier.