A quick Google. The feed is clearly not a problem. Besides, hey obviously forage for some of their food. You lose your ability to micromanage their diet when you let them forage. This is clearly not a food issue.
INGREDIENTS:
Red Hen Layer is formulated from a selection of the following ingredients: Wheat, triticale, barley, oats, peas, lupins, lentils, beans, soyabean, canola, sunflower and products derived from these ingredients. Meatmeal, blood meal, fat, limestone, di-calcium phosphate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, salt, bentonite, lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, antioxidant, egg yolk pigments and enzymes.
Vitamins: A, D3, E, K, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), pantothenate (B5), pyridoxine (B6), B12, niacin, biotin and choline.
Minerals: Calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and zinc.
Analysis: Protein 17% min, Fat 3% min, Fibre 8% max, Calcium 4% min, Salt (added) 0.35% max.
With nine chickens in that large space it is not overcrowding. I sounds like they have access to all this space when the attacks occur. Age (maturity) is not the issue, it's often the first one I think of. My normal easy suggestions don't apply. So yes your answers helped, they eliminated a lot of normal possibilities and saved me a lot of typing.
Typically if one chicken kills another it pecks the head and leaves a bloody mess. When they are attacking to kill they go for the head. Living animals don't always follow the rules but if there was no severe head injury it's not highly likely one chicken killed another. But another possibility is that one chicken was running away from another in a panic, hit a wall, fence, or something, and broke its neck or somehow injured itself. This could happen in a pecking order fight, a dominance fight, or a hen trying to escape an amorous rooster. It sounds like you have all hens, no roosters. It's not a dominance issue between roosters but could be between hens. Hormones often crank up in the spring when days get longer.
What it sounds like is that after a year of living together in peace, one hen decided to attack another one. Now that it has died she has started to attack another one. Does that sound right? Why would that happen? I don't know, I've never seen exactly that. I have seen one chicken develop a hatred for another specific one and actually kill it. But it did not then try to kill another one. I had 18 cockerels I was raising for meat and at around 4 months of age that one attacked and killed the other. But it did not go after any others, like yours is doing.
To me, if a chicken goes after one flock member until it kills it and then switches to another victim it does not sound like it is trying to run a sick chicken way from the flock. What may have happened is that a chicken was knocked down from the dominant position and another is taking over as flock master. That first and second attack may have something to do with a pecking order/dominance issue. I do not for a minute think that size is all that important in these dominance issues once they mature. Too many bantams dominate full sized fowl for me to think it is anything other than the spirit of the individuals involved.
Another time I did have a 2 week old chick attack and kill a sibling. For no obvious reason it killed one while the broody hen did nothing about it. Then, it started after another sibling. When I saw what was going on I isolated the bully all day and put it back with the broody and its siblings that night after dark. That isolation was enough to change its behavior.
So that is my first suggestion. Totally isolate that hen for a while. With her I'd probably isolate her several days, maybe even a week. Isolation can alter their behavior but does not always work.
My only other suggestion is to solve for the peace of the flock. If one chicken is disrupting the peace, get rid of it. What I have is a flock that has changeable pieces. You say you want her to be comfortable. Which is more comfortable, isolating her from the flock for a week or eating her? Sometimes animal husbandry forces hard decisions.
INGREDIENTS:
Red Hen Layer is formulated from a selection of the following ingredients: Wheat, triticale, barley, oats, peas, lupins, lentils, beans, soyabean, canola, sunflower and products derived from these ingredients. Meatmeal, blood meal, fat, limestone, di-calcium phosphate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, salt, bentonite, lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, antioxidant, egg yolk pigments and enzymes.
Vitamins: A, D3, E, K, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), pantothenate (B5), pyridoxine (B6), B12, niacin, biotin and choline.
Minerals: Calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and zinc.
Analysis: Protein 17% min, Fat 3% min, Fibre 8% max, Calcium 4% min, Salt (added) 0.35% max.
With nine chickens in that large space it is not overcrowding. I sounds like they have access to all this space when the attacks occur. Age (maturity) is not the issue, it's often the first one I think of. My normal easy suggestions don't apply. So yes your answers helped, they eliminated a lot of normal possibilities and saved me a lot of typing.
Typically if one chicken kills another it pecks the head and leaves a bloody mess. When they are attacking to kill they go for the head. Living animals don't always follow the rules but if there was no severe head injury it's not highly likely one chicken killed another. But another possibility is that one chicken was running away from another in a panic, hit a wall, fence, or something, and broke its neck or somehow injured itself. This could happen in a pecking order fight, a dominance fight, or a hen trying to escape an amorous rooster. It sounds like you have all hens, no roosters. It's not a dominance issue between roosters but could be between hens. Hormones often crank up in the spring when days get longer.
What it sounds like is that after a year of living together in peace, one hen decided to attack another one. Now that it has died she has started to attack another one. Does that sound right? Why would that happen? I don't know, I've never seen exactly that. I have seen one chicken develop a hatred for another specific one and actually kill it. But it did not then try to kill another one. I had 18 cockerels I was raising for meat and at around 4 months of age that one attacked and killed the other. But it did not go after any others, like yours is doing.
To me, if a chicken goes after one flock member until it kills it and then switches to another victim it does not sound like it is trying to run a sick chicken way from the flock. What may have happened is that a chicken was knocked down from the dominant position and another is taking over as flock master. That first and second attack may have something to do with a pecking order/dominance issue. I do not for a minute think that size is all that important in these dominance issues once they mature. Too many bantams dominate full sized fowl for me to think it is anything other than the spirit of the individuals involved.
Another time I did have a 2 week old chick attack and kill a sibling. For no obvious reason it killed one while the broody hen did nothing about it. Then, it started after another sibling. When I saw what was going on I isolated the bully all day and put it back with the broody and its siblings that night after dark. That isolation was enough to change its behavior.
So that is my first suggestion. Totally isolate that hen for a while. With her I'd probably isolate her several days, maybe even a week. Isolation can alter their behavior but does not always work.
My only other suggestion is to solve for the peace of the flock. If one chicken is disrupting the peace, get rid of it. What I have is a flock that has changeable pieces. You say you want her to be comfortable. Which is more comfortable, isolating her from the flock for a week or eating her? Sometimes animal husbandry forces hard decisions.
..... Not sure how long you will be isolating your bully but I hope it all works out well for you.
