bripms
In the Brooder
- Apr 16, 2023
- 4
- 19
- 29
I've got a sudden and intense issue with my flock.
For reference: 4 hens, 1 rooster, all together since hatch.
They are in a tractor style run in the yard that has an indoor and outdoor section and is 8ft by 2ft total. They have an auto filling waterer, plenty of food, and have not--to my knowledge--been bothered by and rodents or the like.
We live with 4 kids and 3 big dogs who all run and play in the yard but don't interact with or near the coop.
All the girls save one have stopped laying (they were born April 29 of this year, 2024)
Okay:
A few days ago I found my rooster cowering in a corner nearly beaten to death. Head completely bald, bloody, eye swollen shut, beak bleeding, feather pulled out all along his back. I took him to quail hospital in my house and let him rest for two days, he healed up great, the damage wasn't as bad as it seemed, and by the end of the day he was crowing in his little box.
Early on his second day of recovery I found a hen also cowering, frantic, refusing to go near the other 3 girls. When I pushed her into the open area with then, two of them descended on her, so I took her out and put her with Roo. They are sweet to each other and they hung out in the hospital easily. I put them both back in the next day and watched my largest hen attack him, immediately bloodied him again, so I yanked her out and put her in cardboard jail.
She's been there for a day, and now my coop is three gals and the roo.
One of the gals is roos girlfriend and she is being left mostly alone by the other birds but she panics if they come near her.
One of the gals is our resident escape artist and general basket case who has not been involved in a single instance of conflict.
The last remaining gal has taken up the agitator role to attack the rooster whenever she sees him.
We are planning to take roo out and put the nasty one back in to see if time out has chilled her out. If it has we'll put him in and see what happens.
I'm just wondering what would cause two hens to completely flip like this, and only target two of the birds.
It may be worth noting: main agitator is a speckly dark brown, secondary agitator is solid white, uninvolved party is black, the two targeted birds are both a blonde cinnamon color. We thought maybe they have a problem with the birds based on color?
I'm at a total loss, they have never had conflict before (other than the one trying to escape every time you open the hatch) and we have had happy girls and eggs every day since they were 7 weeks.
Other than eating two of them, we don't really have space to have a quail apartment to separate them.
Also, I have 33 babies in a brooder and a big aviary being built so they'll be integrated with a big flock in the near future.
Any advice?
For reference: 4 hens, 1 rooster, all together since hatch.
They are in a tractor style run in the yard that has an indoor and outdoor section and is 8ft by 2ft total. They have an auto filling waterer, plenty of food, and have not--to my knowledge--been bothered by and rodents or the like.
We live with 4 kids and 3 big dogs who all run and play in the yard but don't interact with or near the coop.
All the girls save one have stopped laying (they were born April 29 of this year, 2024)
Okay:
A few days ago I found my rooster cowering in a corner nearly beaten to death. Head completely bald, bloody, eye swollen shut, beak bleeding, feather pulled out all along his back. I took him to quail hospital in my house and let him rest for two days, he healed up great, the damage wasn't as bad as it seemed, and by the end of the day he was crowing in his little box.
Early on his second day of recovery I found a hen also cowering, frantic, refusing to go near the other 3 girls. When I pushed her into the open area with then, two of them descended on her, so I took her out and put her with Roo. They are sweet to each other and they hung out in the hospital easily. I put them both back in the next day and watched my largest hen attack him, immediately bloodied him again, so I yanked her out and put her in cardboard jail.
She's been there for a day, and now my coop is three gals and the roo.
One of the gals is roos girlfriend and she is being left mostly alone by the other birds but she panics if they come near her.
One of the gals is our resident escape artist and general basket case who has not been involved in a single instance of conflict.
The last remaining gal has taken up the agitator role to attack the rooster whenever she sees him.
We are planning to take roo out and put the nasty one back in to see if time out has chilled her out. If it has we'll put him in and see what happens.
I'm just wondering what would cause two hens to completely flip like this, and only target two of the birds.
It may be worth noting: main agitator is a speckly dark brown, secondary agitator is solid white, uninvolved party is black, the two targeted birds are both a blonde cinnamon color. We thought maybe they have a problem with the birds based on color?
I'm at a total loss, they have never had conflict before (other than the one trying to escape every time you open the hatch) and we have had happy girls and eggs every day since they were 7 weeks.
Other than eating two of them, we don't really have space to have a quail apartment to separate them.
Also, I have 33 babies in a brooder and a big aviary being built so they'll be integrated with a big flock in the near future.
Any advice?
