Any ideas as to what happened?

[Ayla_noemi]

Feeding time this morning we found this lovely girl laying next to the water like this. They have an automatic water and the water is clean. They have feed available 24/7. About a week or two ago I switched this coop to later feed since they are almost 4 months old. I have not seen a single egg yet but there has been mating behavior. She was a big healthy girl. No evidence of an egg anywhere in the coop or a predator getting in. Could she have been over mounted? Could the over mounting lead to vent prolapse and her vent been pecked apart overnight? She was fine last night. Any ideas?

 

[azygous]

Are you certain this pullet showed no signs of being sick over the past couple days? And, I'm not real sure what the photo is showing. It would have helped to have a closeup plus a longer shot to show scale and context.

My first impression, though, is a raging infection took this young lady. Bacteria can sometimes colonize the oviduct via the vent, causing a bacterial infection, usually E.coli., and left untreated, it will kill.

This is strictly a guess. The best way to know what killed your pullet would be to take her body to an agricultural lab and ask for a necropsy.

 

[Ayla_noemi]

Are you certain this pullet showed no signs of being sick over the past couple days? And, I'm not real sure what the photo is showing. It would have helped to have a closeup plus a longer shot to show scale and context.

My first impression, though, is a raging infection took this young lady. Bacteria can sometimes colonize the oviduct via the vent, causing a bacterial infection, usually E.coli., and left untreated, it will kill.

This is strictly a guess. The best way to know what killed your pullet would be to take her body to an agricultural lab and ask for a necropsy.

Her tail feathers were gone that hole is her vent. She was alive when I took the first picture. In this one I pulled her out of the bun barrel to see if this added context. Thanks for your help

 

[Eggcessive]

She may have suffered a prolapsed vent and then when the other chickens saw the red tissue sticking out, they pecked at it until she died. This is only a possible scenario, but vent pecking can lead to cannibalism.

Of course, look around the coop for any small holes. It can take only an inch for some predators to get in. A weasel can fit in that, but they are more likely to attack the neck, I believe. Sorry for your loss.

 

[azygous]

Was she found in the run? Or inside an enclosed coop? If she was outside, what size mesh does your run fencing have? If the tail feathers are missing, a racoon can easily stretch a slender paw through chicken wire of two-inch field fencing to grab a chicken and kill it.

On closer squinting, that red look more like blood than inflamed skin. I think she was killed by a predator. If you have raccoons in your area, that would be by guess.

 

[lazy gardener]

Or possum. My understanding is that Possum MO is to disembowel or eat out the crop. Any signs of blood anywhere in coop or run? Any of her feathers?

What are the dimensions of your coop and run, how many birds? What is the run fencing made of, and what covers all coop openings? Is the coop closed up tight at night or left open? Is the run covered?

 

[abraga]

Chickens will do that to a flock mate sometimes. All it takes is a bit if blood, like a broken pin feather, a minor boo boo, or even a prolapse vent. Chickens can be quiet carnivorous...and will peck/devour another flock mate like that. Once There are a few pecks that create an open wound..the others will all go into a feeding freenz. Did u look at the others for signs that perhaps they were the culprit?

 

[Ayla_noemi]

She may have suffered a prolapsed vent and then when the other chickens saw the red tissue sticking out, they pecked at it until she died. This is only a possible scenario, but vent pecking can lead to cannibalism.

Of course, look around the coop for any small holes. It can take only an inch for some predators to get in. A weasel can fit in that, but they are more likely to attack the neck, I believe. Sorry for your loss.

No signs of predators in the pen. We do have a fox that prays on our free range guys from time to time. Other than that we have only ever seen an armadillo and snakes.

 

[Ayla_noemi]

Was she found in the run? Or inside an enclosed coop? If she was outside, what size mesh does your run fencing have? If the tail feathers are missing, a racoon can easily stretch a slender paw through chicken wire of two-inch field fencing to grab a chicken and kill it.

On closer squinting, that red look more like blood than inflamed skin. I think she was killed by a predator. If you have raccoons in your area, that would be by guess.

She was inside the coop. I have not seen a raccoon on our property but that does not mean there is not a new predator out there.

 

[Ayla_noemi]

Or possum. My understanding is that Possum MO is to disembowel or eat out the crop. Any signs of blood anywhere in coop or run? Any of her feathers?

What are the dimensions of your coop and run, how many birds? What is the run fencing made of, and what covers all coop openings? Is the coop closed up tight at night or left open? Is the run covered?

No signs of blood anywear besides all around her backside. I did not see more feathers than normal like when a predator attacks. My pen is 12x 16 and there are about 15 birds in there but most are male which is why I though over breeding was the cause. The fencing is chicken wire and the doors are treated wood and chicken wire with correlated metal for roofing and wooden nesting boxes. The pen is closed at night since my dogs sleep inside the house. They free range during the day. I have separated the girls and boys for now in different pens. Will the boys fight each other if they see the girls in the other pen or will the relax? This has never happened since our ratios in the other pens are 1 Roo to 6-9 females they are all the same dimension.