8 month old hen died...

[nicoh]

So, my 10 month old blue andalusian hen just died. I have two hens left. The one who died was fine yesterday, and when my daughter and I went to check on the chickens this morning, we found her out of the coop, on the ground (but inside a cage of 1/2" welded wire). I checked for mites and found none. I checked for bites and found none. I noticed yesterday her comb was a bit greyer/purpler than usual, but she was not acting strange at all. Her head was under her wing, but not at a sharp/weird angle. I'm in San Jose. CA. The weather we are having it not very cold (low last night was around 40, high yesterday about 65). There have been no changed to diet, egglaying or habitat in the past 2 months. I'm a bit baffled here, but from reading the previous posts, it seems like sometimes they just die for no predictable reason. But if anyone has any ideas on why she died, i'm interested.

Is there anything I should be doing for the other hens? Should I clean the enclosure very well?

anyways. thank you for your time. unfortunately it was my daughter's favorite bird, and she wants another one just like it(the other two are a buff cochin and a welsummer, neither of which have blue/purple earlobes, which, apparently is the mark of beauty in a chicken. *sigh*).

 

[dawg53]

Sorry for your loss. There's no telling what she died from, and you're right...these things happen and it always seems to be a favorite. All you can do is keep an eye on the other 2 hens for anything out of the ordinary. Just make sure they have layer feed and fresh clean drinking water available at all times. Keep their enclosure clean within reason and everything should be fine.
I clean out my chicken house and pen once a week, but that's really up to you how often you want to do it. I wish you and your daughter the best.

 

[nicoh]

thanks. I usually clean out the enclosure about once a week too. I'm now thinking it was a failed landing from the roof of the coop. I was out there for 3 hrs pruning the trees next to the enclosure and saw the other hen use some tree branches to get up the roof of the coop and then jump off and land hard on the ground, in the same spot i found the dead one. I pruned the branches so they can't get up on the roof. As for my daughter, she's six, and one of the reasons we got chickens was to get in touch with life and where food comes from, so I guess we got that lesson today.

 

[zeus]

sorry for your loss also...we just woke up this morning and lost one of our r.i.reds at 9 months...now we are down to two...very sad...she was our best layer,5 eggs a week...same as you-clean area,fresh food,fresh water..we call them spoiled!! no trauma,no bloood-nothing...was running around yesterday/lastnight no problem! one of the mysteries of life i guess.its a sad thing..you get very attatched to the little ladies!

 

[NHchicks]

Are hens dying more frequently lately, or am I just noticing it because I've been reading this thread for the past 2 weeks?