Broken neck? Cause?

[DreadedMoonMama]

I went out to my coop this morning and counted my chicks and there was one missing. When I went to fill up their water, I noticed one of my leghorns laying on the ground, all covered in dirt. I picked it up to see if there were any hints as to why it died, and it opened its eye! So I brought it inside and cleaned it up to see if I could find any wounds. I took pics to see if anyone has an idea.

And as I was writing this, it stretched out in my arms and died.

But I'm still curious. The only thing I could find was a bare patch on its neck. It was holding its neck at a strange angle so I suppose it was probably broken, but I couldn't really find any cause?

 

[teach1rusl]

Awwww...sorry bout your chick. The broken neck doesn't surprise me - it can happen when they fly/run into something. But being covered in dirt and the bare patch make me wonder if it was being chased when it ran into something. Are you pretty sure the bare patch wasn't there before????

 

[DreadedMoonMama]

Not 100%, no. But you make a good point that it could've been running away from something and smacked into the wall. I've decided their run isn't safe enough and sadly they're going to be re-confined until they're bigger.