Need help diagnosing with pic

[lera]

Last week I found one of my Araucana hens dead with part of her rear eaten. (I'm thinking the other chickens pecked at her after she died.) Her death was sudden and unexpected.

Tonight one of my sons went down with his camera and noticed that three of our Araucanas have bloody spots and missing feathers in the exact location of our deceased hen (except hers was much worse, down to the bone).

Do you think the other hens are roughing them up? We have 10 hens, no roosters. We raised them from peeps and bought them at the same time. They are about 8 months old. We have one Arauncan that is fine, which surprises me because she is at the bottom of the pecking order. We have four Araucanas, two Amber links, and four Reds.

Could it be lice and they are trying to scratch themselves?

I have no clue what is going on. Please help.

 

[jeslewmazer]

YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEPARATE THEM IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!! READ THIS LATTER AND SAVE YOUR HENS OR MORE WILL DIE!!!!!!!
They are probably not getting enough protein and will turn cannibalistic and kill each other. Add protein to their diet, I added floating catfish food to my feed but you can even feed them cooked meat or beans. The first time I started raising standard poultry I thought they were going to be easier than the game chickens that I have raised.......Wrong. They are just as needy. I lost three hens do to my lack of knowledge. The dead chickens all had the same problem

hens dead with part of her rear eaten

but mine looked like they were gutted from the rear. Even free range hens might not get enough protein and will get it by whatever means.​

 

[JP33]

Could it be that rodents such as rats caused this? If its possible rodent proof your coop asap!


...JP

 

[brooster]

Could it be treading from a rooster? Have you checked for lice and or mites around the vent? And yes, it could be a protein deficiency, cat fish food or cat food is high in protein, just throw some on the ground as you would scratch, or just mix it in thew feed. Also, how many hens do you have, and how many eggs do you get each day?

 

[lera]

Protein deficiency ... Hmmm. That is a good suggestion. I don't have any cat food or catfish food, but I have some leftover beef roast and chicken breast. Do you think that would work? I do have some canned beans here, too. I think they'll have quite a feast tomorrow. (I think my hubby will have to make a stop for cat food tomorrow.)

I've never seen any rats in our area. There might be some here, but I've never (luckily) seen any. Mice, yes, but they aren't as vicious.

Do you think I should try to treat the bloody area? I'm afraid it will attract the pecking hens.

(We have 10 hens, no roosters.)

 

[JP33]

Lera, rodents are nocturnal so you mostly will not see them. Say, where are you located?


...JP

 

[lera]

We are in north central Maryland. About an hour + northwest of Baltimore.

True about rodents. Although I've seen my share of mice. (Our house is 130+ years old, as is our chicken coop, although we have renovated it some.)

 

[Wynette]

how much room do they have? Overcrowding causes pecking behavior.

Also, it sounded to me like the one that died suffered prolapse; not sure on the rest of your girls. Parasites such as mites or lice could most definitely begin the picking at themselves; then, if they draw blood, the others will peck at the blood until they kill the bleeder - it's sad, but that's how they are.

I'd think the most common cause could be overcrowding, though.

 

[lera]

I would guess that the girls have about 30 square feet, but that is just a guess. They have an enclosed chicken run because of the neighbor's aggressive dogs. We have had no problems at all until the one died. And I did not notice anything strange yesterday with the chickens and their missing feathers and bloody spots. That has happened since last evening.

For the past few days we've gotten 10 eggs from all 10 girls. Today we only got 7 eggs. I'm guessing the three Arauncanas were too stressed from being pecked alive that they didn't lay today.

I'm thinking about pouring some peroxide on the bloody spots to help heal and remove the dried blood to prevent further pecking. Is that a yay or a nay?

 

[geebs]

Time for a parasite check... LMK what you find and we can adivse you.. I am guessing parasites unless it is overcrowded or too hot.