dead hen :(

[bmb1881]

a couple months ago my husband & I got 6 chickens from his brother, they were all raised together.

A couple weeks ago 1 of my hens started laying eggs. Today I went to check & see if there was an egg. The hen was DEAD. I think it was the other chickens.
The hen was laying there & it looks like the other hens attacked her. There was no blood but I could see missing feathers.
I have (I think) 3 dominiques 2 hens & 1 rooster. The dead hen was (I think) Ameraucana- It was butterscotch colored.
I also have (I think) Rhode island- Brown. Today I saw missing feathers on the back & blood from the brown hen.
When the butterscotch hen started laying eggs it would sort of protect the little brown hen & want to be alone.

I thought everybody was alright & got along fine. I'm wondering If you have more than 1 breed of chicken do they tend to fight/not get along?
Or when a hen starts laying eggs do the other chickens dislike that & want to get rid of it?
I'm not sure.

A couple months ago I had a little white hen die, maybe it was the other chickens? with that one I saw no blood no missing feathers.
if anybody has any information I would appreciate it.

Thank you,
Bonnie

 

[richardsfamily]

I am new at raising chickens but I have 2 austolorps, 1 barred rock, 3 welsummers, 1 americauna, a golden campine bantam and a japanese bantam rooster. They all get along very well, even the little campine. Some breeds are more agressive than others. I wouldn't think it was the egg laying, not all of mine laid this year. Could it be weather, or disease?

 

[poseygrace]

Have you noticed them picking on her or not getting along before you found her dead? There would be a pattern beforehand of pecking, etc. They wouldn't just suddenly kill a flockmate for no reason. I would suspect that she died of something else, and the others picked at her body out of curiosity. Did you notice her acting at all strangely before she died? Was she sluggish, etc?

 

[BCchick]

I had one chicken just die recently. No signs of injury or trauma. No blood or wounds. She hadn't been acting sick. Just found her laying dead in the coop. It's like she just fell over dead. I buried her. This was about 3 or 4 weeks ago. All of the other chickens are fine. I still have no idea why she died.

 

[dandydoodle]

I am no expert but, maybe since she just started laying maybe something went wrong when she tried to lay the egg. I have never had hens get mad at another hen for laying an egg but, mine do get really mad if one of their flock mates go broody. They will chase her around and peck at her. They will also come and peck at her while she is sitting on the eggs. I eventually had to move her in with easier going birds. I would think if they had pecked her to death you would have seen something like this first. I also think you would see quite a bit of blood and feathers lost if they pecked bad enough to kill her. I am really voting something else went wrong. Oh yea, I have several different breeds together and I haven't had a problem with that.

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[BamaSilkies]

I wouldnt think that the others killed her. I have a huge RIR rooster in with 2 RIR hens and a OEG black hen and rooster and extra game hen(she is really tiny) and I havent had any problems with fighting. I would check all of them see if there maybe weight loss that isnt necessarily noticable unless you feel them. If they feel thin it could be worms. If not check out sudden death in chickens online.

 

[bmb1881]

Thanks so much everybody for responding

,

I call her butterscotch (the hen who died). She was fine the other day. I didn't notice anything weird. I never noticed any of the other chickens picking on her, or chasing her.
There was no blood when I found her. Just missing feathers. I did notice some swelling on the skin where the missing feathers were.
I'm not sure if butterscotch was laying eggs- I didn't know what broody meant (I looked it up- I am new). When I would go in to grab the egg She would let me grab the egg.

My brown Rhode Island hen (brownie) is smaller, yesterday I noticed towards her bottom there were missing feathers & some blood drawn.
I guess since she is smaller: Rhode Island, (the other chickens Dominiques (2 hens & 1 rooster). They will chase her sometimes & will peck her.

I am new to raising chickens. When my little white hen died. I was surprised when she died; I'm puzzled to this.
She just suddenly died.

I'm upset the 2 chickens who died were my favorites.

I feel bad because my brown hen has no friends left- she was buddy buddy with my white hen & then the butterscotch chicken seemed to get along.
now she has nobody

I"m afraid now the other chickens will keep bugging little brownie.
my brother-in-law set up a dog run & dog house. So we turned the dog house so brownie has the dog house opening toward the fence & area to sit.
today I checked the pen & didn't see 1 of the dominiques, she was inside the dog house & she laid an egg. I was a little worried. When I found her
I was relieved. I opened up the lid of the dog house the hen flew out.