# My hens killed a pullet



## OutdoorDreamer (Mar 29, 2012)

I have 6 laying hens who about a year old. in late March we bought 10 more chicks to raise. raised them in the garage until they were big enough to go outside and fully feathered. they made the move well, and were settled in, or so I thought.
It has been weeks since they've been out with the big hens and everything was fine, all sleeping in the coop together at night, etc. but this morning while feeding my goats I heard a commotion out in the yard inside the chicken coop run. One of the big hens had a pullet cornered and her head was sticking out of the chain link of the coop yard, trying to escape. The other hens quickly ran to where the pullet's head was sticking out of the coop, and ganged up on her, pecking her head madly. I ran out there as fast as I could but when I removed her it was too late, she was gone. I feel terrible, I had no idea my hens would kill one. They all had been getting along before. just have to get if off my chest


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## OwnedByTheGoats (Mar 7, 2013)

This is why I don't have chickens anymore. Okay, well I have five, but we needed the eggs. I had twenty-seven before and it was not working out. My rooster had black stuff on his comb so the hens would literally peck it until there was blood running down his next and dripping off of his beak. I was a TSC and there was a chick with it;s wing half way gone in a brooder tub thing. All the chicks were crowding around it trying to make it worse. They probably would have killed it. Luckily I got someone to take it out and help it. My chickens will just start running around pecking feathers out of each other or whatever. 

IMO, it's just not worth all the deaths and separations because this or that or this or that is happening with this bird or this one. It annoys me to no end when my rooster gets pecked on like that. I had to sell the chicken I raised/saved since it was a wet chicken just hatched because she was brutal. Actually, we gave her away.

I'm very sorry for your loss. As you can see, birds just aren't my thing!  They were just added stress. I hope they don't do this again, that is terrible.


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## OutdoorDreamer (Mar 29, 2012)

OwnedByTheGoats said:


> This is why I don't have chickens anymore. Okay, well I have five, but we needed the eggs. I had twenty-seven before and it was not working out. My rooster had black stuff on his comb so the hens would literally peck it until there was blood running down his next and dripping off of his beak. I was a TSC and there was a chick with it;s wing half way gone in a brooder tub thing. All the chicks were crowding around it trying to make it worse. They probably would have killed it. Luckily I got someone to take it out and help it. My chickens will just start running around pecking feathers out of each other or whatever.
> 
> IMO, it's just not worth all the deaths and separations because this or that or this or that is happening with this bird or this one. It annoys me to no end when my rooster gets pecked on like that. I had to sell the chicken I raised/saved since it was a wet chicken just hatched because she was brutal. Actually, we gave her away.
> 
> I'm very sorry for your loss. As you can see, birds just aren't my thing!  They were just added stress. I hope they don't do this again, that is terrible.


I can relate to that too. Another one of the pullets had been getting picked on by the OTHER pullets that it was raised with! They kept picking at his tail until all the feathers were gone. it was bloody and raw, poor thing. we now have him inside the barn in his own roomy dog crate until he heals. I wont put him back out there with the others until he is 100%.

Chickens just don't think about what they are doing. they are all about food or being territorial it seems. My does have a natural instinct to watch over the new baby goats, even if they are not their own. They will head butt and push new goats brought in from other farms, but it is all settled in a few days. chickens just seem barbaric in general. I'm not a bird person either, we have them for fresh eggs and they free range in the goat pasture to help take care of bugs.


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## OwnedByTheGoats (Mar 7, 2013)

Yep. The first death I ever experienced when I was little was a chick. The seem very suseptible (Sorry, my brain went blank on that one, don't know the spelling! LOL) to diseases and bugs, too. The chicks get pasty butt easily, the grown ones get mites and lice all the time, UGH, ugh, ugh. I know, I am turning your thread into a rant! Sorry! 

If one chicken gets put in the coop, another chicken is pecking it. If more than five are new in the coop, you'll probably end up with a dead chicken! I just couldn;t take all the death happening in my coop. That coop is BIG, like, big, and there is blood splattered on the walls of it. We wanted to raise ducks, but even with those the males are still brutal. A few of my drakes teamed up on a female and actually BROKE her neck. There was blood all in that corner. *shivers*


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

your pullet may have had a wound...chickens will attack another bloody spot...they are cannibals and can be very cruel...but its nature in action..sometimes its ugly..


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## OwnedByTheGoats (Mar 7, 2013)

Phew, oh my! I would like to apologize for all of my typos, my brain is really messing up this morning!


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## lillyhart (Mar 21, 2013)

Anytime one of my chickens has a spot with no feathers, or they are bleeding, I put blue kote on them. This seems to help a lot and it stays on them for a few days. I had a bad problem last year with my chickens being half bald. We finally gave them a bigger run in the fall and by December everyone had there feathers back. I haven't had a problem with it since. I had 9 chickens in a 12x6 foot run and the coop was 6x8. So according to all the chicken books, they had plenty of room but it didn't stop until I gave them more room. Just something to think about.


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## CanucksStar-17 (May 3, 2013)

lillyhart I tried to do that once but it didn't work! The chicks just pecked her worse! 

Chicken's are some of the worst cannibals out there!!! I have at least one chicken or chick die a year from cannibalism! It is just something you can't do anything about! I'm really sorry you lost one of your hens!


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## lillyhart (Mar 21, 2013)

I do notice that right after I put blue kote on they do peck at it some but not for long. I have read a lot about how bad it can get and thank goodness I have never had to deal with cannibalism. Sorry for anyone that has had to deal with it.


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## Curious (Feb 6, 2013)

Chickens are savage little beasties, aren't they? I have about 30 leghorn chicks with bald backs right now, thought they were all fighting and then witnessed my sisters baby goose flinging them! We have always had issues with cannabalism until I got my flock of red sex links. They are the sweetest chickens I have ever owned, they come up and ask for pets and they get along well with each other. I got them from My Pet Chicken. I wish chickens weren't such savage little things because they are so useful. I'm sorry that you're hens were so brutal :/

**edited typos**


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## CanucksStar-17 (May 3, 2013)

Curious said:


> Chickens are savage little beasties, aren't they? I have about 30 leghorn chicks with bald backs right now, thought they were all fighting and then witnessed my sisters baby goose flinging them! We have always had issues with cannabalism until I got my flock of red sex links. They are the sweetest chickens I have ever owned, they come up and ask for pets and they get along well with each other. I got them from My Pet Chicken. I wish chickens weren't such savage little things because they are so useful. I'm sorry that you're hens were so brutal :/
> 
> **edited typos**


You know I got some red sex links year before last and they are the first chickens I have had that didn't get AS pecked up!!! Maybe it is the breed???


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## Curious (Feb 6, 2013)

I think it's the way that particular breeder breeds them, as I've got several different breeds and they all seem to get along. Even the white leghorns! They're calm and don't freak out when I pick them up. I've had red sex link before, and they were crazy, flew all over the pen when I walked up and made all kinds of commotion.


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## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

Sorry you had to experience this. Chickens are nasty creatures at times. I have had the same thing happen. That is the way chickens are.


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## sbaker (Nov 11, 2012)

Chickens are ruthless. And cannibalistic. It doesn't take much to make them kill each other! I saw on TV once someone who had chicken eyeglasses. They were teeny tiny red lensed glasses for chickens! The red lenses kept them from being able to see the blood on other chickens, therefore decreasing the violence in the flock. Kinda cool, IMO!


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