CANIBLE CHICKENS?

[LookingForSilkies]

If they have trouble walking it is kind of a sign to watch for being bullied. I would keep her separated for now. I had to separate a hen who lost balance for a few weeks. It was 6 months before zI could slowly put her back in the flock. She free ranged on the other side of the chicken netting during the day, and spent each night in a dog crate.

Okay that sounds usefull, thank you for the help!

 

[LookingForSilkies]

She should definitely stay separated until her wound is completely healed at the very least. When you do reintroduce her do it slowly, using a look don't touch method (keep her separated by chicken wire but in the same run space...you can even do this while she's healing). When you do reintroduce her it might be helpful to bring one hen from the flock and introduce them on her "turf." Once they're getting along reintroduce both hens to the rest of the flock. Make sure your run has lots of objects to break the line of sight so the newly reintroduced chickens can get away from bullies.

Okay thank you very much I will definitely try this, I wish I had known this before I had put her and our other rooster that hatched with her in the big coop. He was gorgeous, still feel guilty about his passing sometimes but there’s nothing I can do now so must move on. But anyways thank you for the help! I will definatley wait untill she starts healing and maybe I will keep her separated untill she can walk normally and get used to being outside and running untill I put her back in, so if they try to bully her she can at least get away or defend herself.

 

[nuthatched]

Haha I hope so. The diet they have is regular layers pellet with occasionally a mixed in supplement that helps with eggs, scratch grain in morning and evening and meal worms. And occasionally vegetables that are safe for them to eat almost once a week. During the winter they also get a head of cabbage since there are no bugs that they can reach, so we try to give them the best diet possible.

Get a higher protein feed and cut out the scratch and other supplements and treats, they're not helping.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Get a higher protein feed and cut out the scratch and other supplements and treats, they're not helping.

This is so true. We were giving our hens scratch, BOSS and mealworms morning and evening. We stopped giving it to them in the morning and are giving them less in the evening, and egg production has doubled. Okay, that may be correlative and not causative, but still! We continue with the afternoon snacks just to get them all to gather round for an eyeballs-on quick health check.