Chicken death...Contagious?

[Wonder Mom]

One of our four chickens died last night. They were all hatched the same day, but while the others matured, her comb and wattle stayed small and pinkish. Then she was very withdrawn, wasn't eating or drinking much, and weighed a lot less than the other three. I'm thinking whatever she had was probably a birth defect, such as a heart problem, and that my other birds aren't in danger, but any thoughts on this?

 

[Eggcessive]

A heart problem or other birth defect sounds reasonable. How old are your chickens? Did they have any vaccinations? Are they laying yet?

 

[Wonder Mom]

They were born mid-may. We got our first 3 eggs this week, I think from our largest chicken.

 

[Wonder Mom]

I should say, hatched!

 

[Wonder Mom]

No vaccinations.

 

[My3ChicksMBD]

I'm so sorry about your chicken Did some of your chickens peck at that chicken? And was your chicken fairly small? Maybe it was a bantam. Maybe it was just a small breed of chicken and it had a disease or something. Maybe it didnt eat or drink because the others were mean and didnt let it?? I am not sure but I'm so sorry about the chicken

 

[Eggcessive]

I have hatched a couple of wheaten ameraucanas from shipped eggs and a couple of hatchery faverolles that have been like that. They did well as chicks, then never really thrived when they were older. A couple of the those have since died. It's a shame that yours died. Hopefully you will have more chickens.

 

[Wonder Mom]

The other chickens were always very sweet to her. They would snuggle up with her wherever she was laying. I think they're white Wyandottes-- the other 3 girls are huge! Just not sure why she didn't mature and what went wrong. I hope the other girls will still be ok. Thanks for the condolences.