CrockChickens9
Chirping
I have four 22 week old pullets. 2 Sapphire Sky and 2 light Brahmas. I also have a 10 month old black Australorp from my original flock that was killed by a bear. She and one other survived the bear attack but the other just passed away unexpectedly at Christmas so she is the only older pullet in my group of five. This past week one of my sapphire sky’s started showing signs of starting to lay. Physical and behavioral signs that were clear to me. She started frequenting the nesting boxes and around this time my Australorp started what appears to be guarding them. She was hanging in the coop chasing away any bird who came near the boxes but this was on and off. Yesterday she got aggressive with the Sapphire Sky that was closest to lay. The SS submitted in a squat and took the attack then ran away. This was the first time I’d seen anything like this. The Australorp was a bit obsessive and pecked when they were integrated but never attacked them. She’s been with them for months now with no issues. Then today I found a green egg in the Australorps favorite nesting box. So it seems the SS laid her first egg. It had a break in it that looked like a peck mark and bit of egg white was coming out. The shell looked strong though. So I looked back a video footage since I have a camera in the coop and right after she laid the Australorp attacked her terribly twice in the coop. The Australorp has not laid today yet or yesterday which is not common. If she misses a day she always lays the next. They are all in the run now acting perfectly fine but I’m worried this will get more violent. Is this common and is there anything I can do? Did the Australorp peck the egg? Thanks in advance for any help!
