Chickens aren’t known for aggressive or hostile behavior. These birds are seen as peaceful animals who, apart from running after people sometimes, will mind their own business and live in harmony with their other flock members.
If your chickens are fighting to the death and you don’t know why, this article explores the reasons why.
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Chickens fighting to the death:
Not all fights between two chickens will result in a death but in some cases, the birds will fight, cause significant physical trauma to each other, and the birds may end up succumbing to their wounds.
Here are the possible reasons why your birds may be fighting:
Pecking order:
The pecking order is a social hierarchy system that chickens use to determine who gets access to food, water, and who gets the most respect.
The bigger and stronger birds are usually high up in the pecking order and the smaller and weaker birds are at the bottom.
Birds will fight each other to determine who ranks where in the pecking order. These fights rarely result in a death but serious injuries may be inflicted during a fight and this can result in the death of that bird
What to do:
If your birds are fighting because they are trying to figure out the hierarchy in the pecking order, but blood isn’t being drawn, and the birds aren’t being seriously injured, then you can let the birds be.
However, if the birds are injuring each other, and blood is being drawn, then you should separate the birds and let them heal their injuries in isolated spaces.
If one large bully bird is bullying smaller birds to death then you may need to isolate the bully bird for an extended period of time, or, you may need to get rid of that bird.
Lack of resources:
Chickens have evolved to look after themselves and their offspring, this can sometimes mean seeing other birds as a threat and treating them as a threat should resources become scarce.
A bird will fight another bird in the flock, who it was once very friendly towards, if resources like food and water become scarce.
If push comes to shove, the birds may even kill each other, or injure each other, to where the injured bird will succumb to its injuries.
What to do:
You need to make sure that you’re giving enough food to your birds. Each bird needs ¼ pound of food a day and 1 pint of water a day.
Make sure that the water you give your birds is clean or else they won’t drink it and make sure that the feeders are abundant and can be accessed from all sides so more birds can feed at the same time and on all sides
Overcrowding:
Chickens, just as with humans, will become annoyed and cranky if they are in a cramped space. Overcrowding is a very common reason why chickens in a coop fight.
These fights can turn deadly and chickens can die if injured in a fight over lack of space.
What to do:
Ideally, one would need to plan accordingly before introducing chickens onto a property. Each chicken needs about 4 square feet of space in the coop and 8-10 square feet of run space.
If you already have birds on your property then you may need to consider reducing your flock size or giving your birds more time outside to free range. Doing this may be helpful in reducing stress caused by overcrowding in the coop.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Hen Jumping On Other Hens Back, Why Is My Chicken Throwing Up Brown Liquid?, Why Is My Chicken Throwing Up Water?, Chicken Crouching When Walking, Hen Fighting Rooster
