11 Accidental Ways To Die (For Your Chickens)

Very good tips. I wish I had read this 4 years ago when starting my flock. I may have avoided losing 1 to a hawk and 1 to a raccoon. No one enjoys losing livestock. But backyard chickens become part of the family, too. Thanks for these good tips.

I needed this article! We've been having excessive heat warnings every day for a couple of weeks now. My egg production dropped, and my ladies were stressing from the heat. So, I've been taking action to help them cool down a little. I have plastic drinkers that I fill halfway with water and freeze overnight. In the morning, I fill one of them the rest of the way and bring one out first thing in the morning. Later on in the morning, I bring out the other drinker and set it in the other end of the run where the shade is. Then I hose down the coop and put a gentle spray over the run. I started making ice cakes with their treats and I give them those in the late afternoon. They've been responding to the cooling and are laying their eggs normally again.

This is a great summation. I recommend that all take time to read this.

Excellent article with only on thing I could add.
Never, ever underestimate the suicidal stubbornness of a determined hen! She has super powers! She will take the most secure, carefully planned coop and find a way to murder herself. There is literally no such thing as a 100% safe coop. So please, when (not if) your super hen manages to remove herself from the gene pool, don't beat yourself up with guilt. It will happen and super hen WILL find a way to maim or kill herself. Just keep a good first aid kit and maybe a glass of wine to toast her ingenuity(and calm your nerves).

Thank you so much for this article.

Great article. Maybe do another article on "hardware disease" in poultry and link your "Glass, Wire & Nails" to it.

Good article with need to know information for all chicken keepers. Newbies and even more experienced ones.

Great article with tons of information for a rookie like me. I am grateful to be able to learn so much here!

Informative article for the rookies and a good reminder for the experiences. May I also add heat exhaustion/stroke to this? Because chickens have down feathers, they can overheat and die in excessively hot weather. Also some breeds are less affected than others. Keepers need to be aware of weather, and provide cooling shade, mist, fans, water or damp dirt, cool treats to help them cope with the heat.

Great article on things to look out for in order to keep chickens safe. Well written.

very good article. shows ways to not have these things happen. one thing that could be good to have is egg-laying breeds being egg-bound. there are some good ways to fix that, and many of them are right here on BYC.
overall, a very good article

Excellent overview of common hazards!

An article like this should be on the front page and stay there. It should be the first thing people read when they come to BYC.
I do take issue with the title though.
Accidents do happen but most of the topics covered here are the result of negligence and/or ignorance.