MrsTusa

Sadly we are certain it is Priscilla. Yesterday when we got back we both saw her chasing Sue around for ourselves. Priscilla doesn't have a mark on her, she's in great condition in comparison.

Thanks ever such a lot for the advice and the comments. We are certain that nothing is getting in and harming them, we have our eglu and run double fenced/wired in as I was paranoid about foxes getting in. Makes me even more sad that they ultimately turned on each other like this. Luckily Sue seems to be in good spirits, she is is certainly looking worse for wear but still bright and laying daily. I feel ever so sorry for her all alone though but I never want to come home to a sight like that again. I was really hoping that rehoming Priscilla may be a good option but I'd hate her to harm somebody else's chicks I guess we may have some tough decisions to make. It's good to hear that this is not a common occurrence at least x

Hello, this is my first time posting but I am hoping somebody may be able to offer some advice. We are first time time chicken keepers and got our three girls last August along with our eglu. After a few days establishing the pecking order, Dorothy, Sue (Gingernut rangers) & Priscilla (Miss Pepperpot) soon settled in and have been a complete pleasure until the last couple of weeks which have been just awful.. Two weeks ago we arrived home from work to the terrible sight of Dorothy dead in the run, it was awful enough to find that one of my girls had passed away but to make matters worse it soon became clear that she had been killed by Priscilla and the whole run & eglu itself was in a terrible mess from what looked to of been a prolonged attack. We are sure that Priscilla has been the ringleader in this as Sue had also been badly attacked and was injured herself. Knowing we needed to separate them for fear that Sue would soon end up the same way, my husband and I spent most of the evening temporarily dividing the run under torch light to give Sue the best chance we could of keeping out of Priscilla's way & fortunately a few days later I managed to pick up a second hand eglu on ebay. We have been separating both girls for just over a week in the individual eglus whilst we are at work before letting them free range and roost together once we are home and things seemed to be getting better and Sue was healing nicely. Yesterday however we decided to try leaving them together for a couple of hours whilst we went shopping but sadly when we got home Sue had been brutally attacked yet again. I feel awful that I left her with Priscilla to do this again. I am absolutely devastated at what has happened particularly as Dorothy & Sue were by far the friendliest of the three, Priscilla has always been more aloof and bigger than the other girls. I had read that 'progressively' pecking could get worse, however this went from nothing to Dorothy being killed in a day! We are at a loss for what to do for the best, Priscilla just seems to be truly evil & we can't help but think that she may be better being rehomed with a bigger flock where she cannot dominate all of the others?? I can hardly bring myself to even look at her at the minute! Our girls get plenty of fresh veg, I have been giving them meal worms in case they need more protein and I have also been adding poultry drink to their water and spice to their feed should they be deficient in anything as they look to be coming into moult. They have the run of our big garden as much as possible whilst we are home - I really don't think there is any more that we can do for them! We are two very upset and disillusioned chicken owners at the moment