Change in flock rank, broody or depressed? Oh boy.

[looptloop]

I've had a time of it recently..... I had a 1 yr old Buff orp slowly decline over the past couple weeks. I never could figure out what was wrong with her, no symtoms of anything, but today she passed away. I believe that she was pecked (almost to death) by some of the others in the flock. Immediately following her death my (probably next lowest in rank) EE began acting strange. She is also 1 yr old, and laid what appeared to be a shell-less egg.

In an attempt to figure what was wrong with the Buff I wormed everyone last week. I had not picked up the eggs that had been laid today and the odd acting EE was sitting on them when she laid her shell-less egg. I picked up all of the eggs and took them from the coop to dispose of them. She stayed in the corner of the coop with her beak to the corner. Is is possible she is upset by the death of the flock member? Could she have suddenly gone broody? Could the death of the BO have resulted in her now being the lowest in rank in the flock?

I did bring her into the house to observe her for the night, but this has been a last resort for me as I have had a very difficult time re-introducing anyone who has been in isolation. I made her a scrambled egg, but she didn't seem to be interested at all. It was rather late by the time I got her in the house, could that be a reason for not wanting to eat? Could there be bullying going on in the flock and the lower girls are intimidated to eat?

What am I missing here?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Judy]

Sorry you are having these problems, and sorry no one answered. Truth is, it's very hard to say what happened. I would suspect the first one had some sort of internal problem with her egg laying system, perhaps internal laying or even a tumor. It does seem odd that another one got sick so soon, though. I would find out about having a necropsy done, just in case you lose this one, too. I can't tell you exactly who to call, perhaps your vet would know, but usually a state ag dept. or ag college will do this for not a lot of money or even free. There could be some sort of disease going on, too.

When chickens realize that one of the flock is sick, which they are good at, they will often attack the sick one, presumably to keep the flock strong, so the pecking may have been because she was already sick. I think every question you asked could be answered with a maybe. I've never had mine show any sort of grief at a chicken death but have read of this, particularly in a very small flock.

I hope your EE recovers and all is soon well in your flock!

 

[looptloop]

Thanks for the reply ddawn. I will look into the ag dept info.