Who killed Freddie?

[Amy]

Hi guys
Just wanting some advice please. Last spring we purchased a trio of Brahma girls for our flock...they were only about 8-10 weeks old. They have been living quite happily in their little field with my other chickens, bantams, geese, ducks and turkey. I have 1 male, Freddie, who was a Lavender Pekin Frizzle who was about 4-5 years old. This weekend, we discovered that the larger Brahma was actually a male when we heard it crow but as it had been brought up from little with Freddie and shown no signs of aggression, all would be ok and we would 'keep an eye on things'. There seemed to be no trouble over the weekend.

2 days ago we lost our silky Tango who was Freddies little pal...we found her dead in the snow just outside the open poop hole with no damage to her body so assumed she had passed away as again she was 4-5 years old and had seemed a little quiet for the last week or so.

We have 3 chicken coops and they all decide where they want to sleep each night and mostly Freddie slept with Tango, the brahmas and 2 hybrids in one of the small coops (lower perches). This morning we went to let them out to find Freddie on the floor of the coop with the side of his head missing and bits of skin missing from his legs/feet. My husband assumed that the newly discovered male brahma had killed him in the night/early this morning but on my investigation I found no blood on the brahma (he is lavender coloured too so I think I would have seen blood) and non on the other chickens. On further investigation, when I turned Freddie over to examine his body, his vent has been completely eaten away and like a tunnel formed that has been eaten out if you get my drift up into his body. There was also blood on the perch but the perch is only 10cm off the coop floor.

We do however have a rat problem and I found a hole into that coop this morning which suggests a rat has got in...not sure how long this hole has been there though.

Could he have been attacked by the brahma in the night and killed even though I have never seen any aggression between them? Could a brahma do that much damage?
Could have have been attached and killed by rats?
Could he had died of old age then been eaten by rats? ...if this is the case, would there still be fresh blood as I know in humans once dead your blood stops pumping so it doesnt ooze in the same way? And if they ate him why not eat Tango?

I am feeling very sad as Freddie was such a friendly chap with oodles of character who loved human company and I feel as though I have let him down by not removing the other male when we found out he was a male. The guilt is driving me potty as I loved that little guy...I am also concerned that he suffered terribly He got attacked a year or so ago by a cockerel (we rescued and rehomed him) and he being so placid was terrified and we nearly lost him then.

Any advice welcome!

 

[Marigold]

Oh dear, poor Freddie, so sorry Amy.
However, I think both you and the Brahma are in the clear and no need to beat yourself up about this sad hapoening. It's really not at all likely or possible that the brahma would have caused such terrible injuries, in the darkness, overnight, to another chicken when there had been no aggression. A particularly nasty chicken could kill another one, but it would be by piling in during the day and pecking it to death, and this is very rare anyway. And you are not to blame, just feel sad, not guilty. It sounds as if Tangos death was just one of those coincidences if there was no sign of injury and she was quite an old bird.
I expect that, as you say, rats are at the root of this problem - or possibly a stoat or a mink, if there are any in your neighbourhood. But as you've seen signs of rats, this needs seeing to ASAP to avoid a repeat. How do the rats get into the run? Have you done anything so far to poison or trap them? Can you repair the hole in the coop as well as seeing to the holes use by the rats to get in the run?

 

[Amy]

Hi Thanks for your reply. I have noticed today that the Brahma is pecking the other chickens and trying to mate with them all and generally being a sod. Im wondering whether when it started to come light, Freddie started to crow to the Brahma, now mature and randy, has battered him then the rats have finished him off?
We live alongside a Grouse moor so they have tight vermin control of things such as stoats, foxes etc but we do have an influx of rats. We keep putting poison down, but I think we have hard-assed mega tough rats as they eat it, some die and some dont!!! Its a constant battle with the blighters! My husband is going to replace the chewed parts of the coop but then I think we are going to shut them all down and get them all in 1.
Our chickens are free range. They have there own mini field/paddock with 1x stable and 3 coops in. Typically the Brahmas (including the male) and my bantams like the smallest of the coops and like to cram in as the perch is really low.
Its one of those things were I constantly berate myself for being stupid as to think 2 males could co-habit nicely then I get angry because it is not like he can recover...if that makes any sense. When our rescue male beat him up we found him in time as it was during the day outside and we bathed him and rehabilited him and gave the other male to a friend. This time there is no 'fixing up' to be done! Fairly permenant and I feel really responsible. My husband, although he loves the chucks, keeps telling me its just a chicken but it is still a life cut short due to a stupid mistake.
If the rats got to him and I do believe they did with the amount of damage he had, I think something must have happened prior to that with the Brahma as he has lived in there for 5 years and not been got by the rats and it seems a strange co-incidence that the weekend we realise Frosty is a male, Freddue dies. My husband says that when he let the out at about 7:30 when it had got light properly, he said Freddie was still warm and soft.
I just hope it was quick and my little pal didnt suffer long. I know it is not the brahmas fault as he is doing what is in his nature but I need to rehome him now as Im mad at him! Freddie never showed an ounce of aggression but today Frosty is being a really nasty bugger with the other females and I dont want anymore deaths! I bet I sound like a fruit loop!! Thanks for letting me vent though & Im not a nutter! Just love my animals!

 

[Marigold]

What a beautiful picture of Freddie. I can understand why you are so upset. I guess you'll never know what happened for sure, but I think it was just something unpredictable, not your fault, and as I said, don't best yourself up about it. Of course we don't think you're a nutter, you've had a really horrible experience which would upset anyone, even if their favourite bird hadn't been involved.
It's quite natural that your Brahma cockerel is beginning to throw his weight about, teenage hormones are pumping in and he is establishing his authority over the flock. So long as he's not aggressive or dominant to humans, he's not too great a problem, but if you can rehome him, it might be to the good as he would be rather big and heavy for your bantam girls, not really fair on them, don't you think?
Are the chicken pellets left out accessible to the rats during the day? Layers pellets contains a lot of Vit.K, which is an antidote to rat poison, so if the rats are eating pellets it would make them more resistant to the poison traps, as well as polluting the feed of course. Maybe a treadle feeder might be good, except that, if it was adjusted so the little Banties could feed, maybe then rats could get it to open also. Anyway, definitely remove feed overnight, that might help.
Are the coops in the stable, or out in the field? I was just wondering if you could make a ratproof run, with either concrete, or a floor and sides made of small sized 1/2" mesh which the rats couldn't bite through, with the coop(s) in it for safety overnight. The run wouldn't need to be be big enough for all of them during the day, but might help exclude predators during roosting times. Maybe your stable could be adapted for them to roost safely?
It's wonderful for chickens to have a nice area to free range in, but it does often come with its own problems, I'm afraid.