Chicken’s Mystery death?

[stormgirl82]

About 3 weeks ago we had one of our 1 year old bantam chickens die. She was just in the coop dead one morning. No signs of injury or anything. She seemed fined the day before.
Then this morning, we found one of our almost 3 year old barred rock hens out in the run dead. She also seemed fine this morning. No injury or sickness that we can see.
These are our first 2 chicken deaths ever. And we are so sad and confused. Any idea what could be wrong? No new chickens have been added to our flock, except the two baby chicks that have been hatched from Momma hen in our flock.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Do they free range?
Is the run predator proof?
What do they eat for feed and scraps?
Do you use a heat lamp?

 

[Pentatonchix]

So sorry for your loss

 

[stormgirl82]

Do they free range?
Is the run predator proof?
What do they eat for feed and scraps?
Do you use a heat lamp?

No free ranging. They eat an all flock feed, the same as they’ve been eating for about a year now. They do get scraps of green veggies, sometimes leftover meats, occasional fruits. Same scraps they’ve always eaten. Nothing new in diet.
Run and coop are predator proof, no signs of any predators. There is a heat lamp in one area of the coop for extra warmth for momma and babies that are in a separate space inside the coop. Temps have been in the 30s overnight and it’s been pretty rainy lately.

 

[stormgirl82]

Thoroughly inspected her just now before burial. We found an empty crop, no marks of any kind on her, and her stomach and vent appeared normal. The only thing we found unusual in the coop was a pool noodle that my youngest son left at the edge of the run at some point. There are chunks out of it where they’ve been eating it or at the least picking on it. I didn’t know it was there. Could that be the problem? We’ve removed it now.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Thoroughly inspected her just now before burial. We found an empty crop, no marks of any kind on her, and her stomach and vent appeared normal. The only thing we found unusual in the coop was a pool noodle that my youngest son left at the edge of the run at some point. There are chunks out of it where they’ve been eating it or at the least picking on it. I didn’t know it was there. Could that be the problem? We’ve removed it now.

I could be and it may not be. Since you have removed it, keep an eye on the flock just to make sure everything is okay.