To cull or not

[CliftonQuail]

A couple of months ago, I had a hatch that netted 3 males and 4 females going into grow out cages. I separated them by placing one of the males with all 4 females and the extra males in a separate cage. They started laying about 6 weeks old and I got several double yolk eggs at first. One morning, I found one of the hens dead and badly scalped. I didn't see any damage on any of the other birds in the cage, but I stopped seeing double yolks. A week, or so, later, I found a second hen badly scalped and separated her. I thought she was on her way to recovery, but she apparently managed to break her neck in the isolation cage. Thinking it was the male that was responsible for the scalping, I separated him out and placed him with his male hatch mates. After about another week, I found a third hen dead in the same cage. She was badly mutilated about the head so now I suspect the surviving hen was the culprit all along. She is currently alone in the cage and I have no intention of breeding her.
I've probably kept the males longer than I should have and plan to harvest them in the next few days. My dilemma is whether to cull the murderous hen, too. I don't plan to breed her and I don't think I can put any other birds in the same cage with her. What would some of you do?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Are you sure it's the remaining hen, and not a predator?

 

[Prince and Pavo]

Hello!

I think that you should always try to let an animal live if you’re able to. I would say to let her live. @ChickNanny13 also makes a good point… could it be that it’s actually a predator causing the injuries and deaths? If you’re sure that it’s the hen, could it be because they don’t have enough space in the pen?

 

[Whiskybear]

Sounds like the most beneficial she can be is as an appetizer.

 

[Nabiki]

This really depends on what your goals are. If you want to keep the murderous one as a pet, you probably can, but if you want to breed, her genes are not going to be beneficial to your covey.

She's not going to be happy by herself, so your options, in my opinion, are to get a large aviary type of setting with lots of hiding places where the other hens can get away from your aggressive one, or to cull.

 

[Kiki]

I'd eat them all and start over with more hatching eggs.

 

[Kiki]

Are you sure rats and mice can not get in to your cages?
100% sure.

 

[CliftonQuail]

Are you sure rats and mice can not get in to your cages?
100% sure.

Regarding predators, the birds are in a Wynola Ranch three tier cage (with egg rollout) in my garage. I've seen no signs of any rats or other in there. The birds in question were in the middle tier with birds above and below them which don't appear to have been disturbed. In both cases where I found the bird dead, the body was at the front of the cage as if the body had slid or been pushed by the other birds. I saw no sign that anything had tried to make a meal of the bird. Also, it's been more than two weeks and no other issues. I can't be 100% sure it's not a predator, but signs sure point to the bird.

 

[CliftonQuail]

I'd eat them all and start over with more hatching eggs.

I actually have 2 colonies of breeders going right now with one male and 5 hens each. They're in the top of my three tier Wynola Ranch setup and I have no aggression issues in those two cages. One cage is all Myshire Farms lineage and the other has all Myshire hens with a Sandy Soil Farms roo.

To @Nabiki 's points, a large aviary isn't in the cards right now. Maybe in the future when I move onto my property in the country. I also realize that my current cages aren't ideal and plan to build my own probably along the lines of some of the @007Sean designs that I've seen. That's in the future, though.

 

[Kiki]

I actually have 2 colonies of breeders going right now with one male and 5 hens each. They're in the top of my three tier Wynola Ranch setup and I have no aggression issues in those two cages. One cage is all Myshire Farms lineage and the other has all Myshire hens with a Sandy Soil Farms roo.

To @Nabiki 's points, a large aviary isn't in the cards right now. Maybe in the future when I move onto my property in the country. I also realize that my current cages aren't ideal and plan to build my own probably along the lines of some of the @007Sean designs that I've seen. That's in the future, though.

I don't really know what those type of cages look like, but is there enough room in there for you to put some cut-up boxes or hiding spots?