Can you solve this mystery?

[magicpigeon]

A hen was found hanging upside down from the coop with one of her toes caught in the wire. My father thought the'd gotten caught and died from being upside down but there is something wrong with this theory, as she did not sleep on top of the coop. Something must have spooked her for her to suddenly fall and get caught. And a strong hen like her should have been able to pull free. There were no wounds , though after reading how to tell which predator killed your pet I am considering it was a snake. We have rat problems in our area and live in the country (you guessed it!

) with the most poisonous snakes in the world. Another theory I had was that she had jumped and got caught in the wire, though that doesn't explain the angle (to jump straight on to the wire her head would be facing away from the coop. Her head was faced towards.) And how could a snake cause her to jump onto the coop and fall? Maybe she was running away from it and slipped when it bit her

But then again, wouldn't the snake have eaten her?

Anyway, I also wanted to know if anyone has theories on how my baby Australorp died last week. (If you've read any of my other posts- this is A1, I bought A2 this week. I'm not making this up

) We came back and found no signs of injury. However, I do know the carer's 3 year old grandson came over to "help". My silkies were scared of my hands for the next few days after that, and my doves feathers looked ruffled and ... touched, as in when you see a pigeon that's just bathed and it's wing feathers are all ruffled

My idea is that the 3 year old liked my Australorp. He liked the silkies the 1st time he visited, though they were off-limits. I'm thinking he must have tried to pick up the australorp (all my birds are hand tamed). I think the Australorp would have struggled and instinctively, the toddler might have held tighter. This could have ruptured something INTERNALLY inside the bird. That explains the no outward signs. And the poor guy might have taken a while to die. That explains why the keeper thought it was fine and dandy to let his grandson play with the birds. When it died he probably wouldn't have thought a little bit of "fun" wouldn't have done it. The toddler is a boy, and a spoiled one at that. I think he might have crushed the bird's ribcage, he's a strong boy

I'm still in shock about the death of my australorp. I miss him alot and am trying to rule out any other possibilities. I couldn't do an autopsy on the body btu I'm definetely not using that keeper again. My family want to as he lives close to us and keeps birds himself. I don't buy that as the last time I left for Malaysia one of my pigeons died. Again, no symptoms. But she was a year old, not 5 weeks. I'm puzzled...

 

[CMV]

The hen hanging upside down from the fence was probably a situation purely of her own making. I have seen many birds over the years kill themselves accidentally on the run fences. Whether it be from getting caught in it or flapping into it at top speed when startled, birds and fences don't always mix well. As far as her being strong enough to pull herself free, you have to realize that when a chicken is flipped over onto their head they quickly go into a sort of catatonic state. That's why you can carry chickens by their feet and they don't continue flapping. That's why you can use killing cones when butchering and the bird doesn't struggle. Your bird probably didn't even struggle for more than a few seconds before she shut down. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to right herself and you didn't see her until it was too late.

I have no theories on the Australorp. If you have any question about the keeper's practices then I would discontinue using him. Period. And 3 y.o. children should never be allowed to hold chicks. Chicks are much too fragile to be handled by such inexperienced hands.

Sorry for your losses.

 

[Pidgey104]

I lost a showgirl to this also

 

[magicpigeon]

Quote:
D'OH!!!!

forgot about the upside down thing... And I was unsure at the start about my keeper. He's related to my father and you know the saying "Blood is thicker than water..."...