Sudden Hen Death

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apmomma

apmomma

In the Brooder
9 Years
Dec 3, 2010
44
0
22
Northern Colorado
(Sorry for the cross post..didn't get a response on the other forum)
Yesterday afternoon I discovered one of our Easter Eggers dead in the middle of the run...she felt cold, as if she'd been there awhile.... this came as a total shock. She was about 7months or so old and had shown no signs of illness and had been laying an egg a day. There were no signs of obvious injury either.
My question, could the rooster possibly have fatally injured her while mating?? The location is consistent to where he typically tries to mate with the hens..it's the only possible cause we could come up with. The roo is an aggressive Plymouth Barred Rock who had left a pretty bad bald patch on her rump from mounting.

Any thoughts on our sweet hen's mysterious death? Was it the rooster?
 
Well how cold is it where you are? Could she have gotten too cold she froze to death? Otherwise, yes, it probably was the rooster, I'd keep an eye on him for a while in his "duties".
 
I had a cockerel accidentally kill a pullet by pouncing on her head. He snapped or severely dislocated her neck, leaving her head hanging at a godawful angle. It wasn't immediately fatal, but she had to be culled. EEs tend to be a bit petite (at least mine are), so I could see a small hen being damaged by a full grown roo easily. I'd be putting your roo on notice. Any more damage to the hens during mating and he'd become dinner. Too many great roos out there looking for homes to put up with a brute.

Sorry about your girl.
 
EE's heads are very fragile, learned from experience, had a hawk just rip off one's head and fly away with it. A year later we found the hen's skeleton in the bushes.
sickbyc.gif
 
Thanks for your input....our instincts lead us to believe it was the roo too(not cold enough/had access to indoors)....
sad.png
So sad since he was already on his way out (too aggressive with us and kids) just looking for a home for him.
sad.png
 
She was just slumped over right in the middle of the outdoor run, so face down...at first I thought she was dust bathing since her feathers appeared ruffled up...
 
Chickens can die suddenly at any time and unless you do a necropsy, there may be no indication of why they died. I have found the most unexpected deaths when they first start to lay or after they molt and start to lay again, probably having to do with egg laying problems.
 

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