Chicken died overnight...

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wildchickenmom

wildchickenmom

In the Brooder
Jan 2, 2016
36
5
26
Northeastern Ontario
I have a small flock of 16 birds. Some Bielefelders, Barnevelders and a couple of cream leg bars. They are approx 7 weeks old.
We moved them from their brooder to the new coop around 5 days ago. Since then they've been sleeping in a pile on the floor.
It's a little chilly in the coop, low last night was -1C. When I opened the door this morning, one of the Barnevelders was dead, pressed flat right against the door.
All the other chickens appear fine, no injuries on the one who died. Just flat and very cold.
I'm wondering if she got 'dog piled' by the other chickens?
It's a big glass door of that matters, they seem to like to gather at it and look out.
I'm a pretty sad chicken owner this morning, definitely was not expecting this...
Any ideas? And how do I get them to sleep on the roosts and not the ground? Thanks so much for any help!
 
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Hi, sorry to hear about your chicken ... kind of does sound like she got dog piled on ...
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Think our chickens were between 9 and 10 weeks old when we got our coop done and moved them from their small coop to their permanent coop. They first slept on the floor or in the nesting box , and we picked each one up and set them on the roost. The next night all but two were on the roost by themselves and we only had to place two on the roost.

We put a thin board in front of the nesting box so they couldn't go in there, but do understand that is not your situation.

But, since you have 16, I'd just wait a little bit until you can see which ones are at the top of the pecking order and put a few of them up on the roost, and the others will probably follow.
 
Thank you for the reply! I can't believe I didn't see it until now. Anyway, I do think there was a bit of a dog pile, but we also discovered that the chickens were flying or throwing themselves at the door to the coop (it was a full glass panel) and I'm now wondering if she hit it hard enough and broke her neck? We've since covered it and their behaviour has become much calmer. I'm wondering if they could see their reflection and it was making them panic or freak out? Chickens!
 
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Wow! Throwing themselves at the door .... sounds like they thought they could get out and that might be what they were trying to do.

We have one hen separated in the run right now so she can regrow some feathers before we put her back with the others. She is separated by hardware cloth so she can see everyone and they can see her. The other day she was flying and throwing herself against the wire to try to get in with the others. Didn't hurt herself and seems like she learned she can't get out, so has stopped.

Think covering it was a good idea.
 

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