Post by nina on May 5, 2024 21:01:29 GMT -5
My current flock is comprised of Ameraucanas and one Easter egger. For a long time two chocolate sisters, (a project color) hens ruled the roost. Everybody was healthy and pretty usually laying all their eggs in one box despite many boxes available. An Isabel rooster was growing more and more aggressive towards me and sometimes other chickens. One day I came to find the top hen's head all bloody and promptly evicted the rooster. I pretty much just put him the barn to figure out what to do with him. That night something bit his tail feathers off and pulled off skin on his rear end but he was still active and eating. So now I have two injured chickens and not a lot places to put them as I'm also hatching chicks in different stages and they are growing up. So I put the bad roo in with the hurt hen in a small coop and all was fine. The hen started healing up but rooster started declining and died. Meanwhile the hens in the big coop are starting to look a little shabby from fighting and won't let the healed hen back in with them. I watched the flock for some time today and saw a lot of squabbles and what's worse an Isabel hen seems to be changing into a rooster and also seems the crabbiest of the bunch. I've counted eggs and hens so I'm fairly certain the hen in question is a hen, but now is getting stringy long feathers and is looking like a rooster. Also there is a line of skin showing on the shoulders like fighting chickens on this he/she. It's possible there's more in the genetic pot than I know about because the Isabel's were from shipped eggs. The biggest hen is the chocolate sister to the injured one now in isolation. Nobody directly bothers her however her sister used to be big beautiful and in a top position. The smallest are the crabby Isabel and previously the most gentle buff hen who is also my smallest chicken. I'm worried I wrongly accused the rooster and got him killed because if anything the hens are more violent than ever. When I put the hen back minus the rooster someone reopened her healed wounds, but in that case had to be a hen or the roo that pretended to be a hen or vice versa. The he/she was from the same clutch as the other Isabel rooster. Oddly, they are all laying well, even the scalped hen. How do I get my flock back to being harmonious? This is a group that has been together at least a year without trouble. I've pulled weeds and thrown them in with the chickens. Is there a weed that will cause crazy behavior? I try to put only clover, grass, dandelion leaves and chickweed in, but I'm not overly careful.