Colorado extreme weather and dead chicken

[SamCO]

Good morning. We have - flock of (now) 25 chickens, but have had two die in the last week. Both birds that died were around 2.5 years old. The first was a silver laced Wyandotte, and she was out free ranging, ran over to get some egg that we were offering, and about a min later, was thrashing and dead within minutes. It wasn’t terrible hot that day (around 90). Yesterday it reached 104 degrees here. I let the birds out to free range where they could get plenty of shade and cool areas and they all seemed ok, but when I went into the coop last night for a head count, my sweet salmon faverolles was dead on the coop floor. She was always a weirdo, and stayed in the coop a lot, even when the doors were all open to leave. I’m guessing she prob died of the heat, but I’m starting to worry I have something bigger going on. I’d love to get another faverolles, but wonder if I shouldn’t since our summers are getting hotter. We still have -20 to -30 degree days in winter, so cold hardy is a must too.

We were planning on getting chicks for a broody next week. Think I should wait to make sure we don’t have a disease that’s infected our flock? These are the first losses we’ve had in 2.5 years of keeping chickens.

Obviously I realize that you all can’t diagnose what happened to my birds. Just wanted to hear of others experiences with keeping chickens in locations with extreme hot and cold. I’m so sad for the loss of my girls.

 

[FrostRanger]

Sorry for your loss
We don't get extreme cold here, but we do get hot summers with temps close to 100F being the norm. My flock consists of easter eggers, lakeside egger (basically a easter egger variety exclusive to Meyer hatchery) and a single buff orpington. I can't say any of them are happy about the heat, but they all manage just fine here and they would all do well in a colder environment too (EEs and LEs have pea combs, muffs and beards, the LEs have crests and BOs are big fluffy birds). If no one else gets ill or dies I would chalk it up to either random chance or heat stroke as you guessed (I have heard faverolles tend not to be particularly smart birds....). Still, it would be a good idea to check your ventilation situation in your coop. You generally want 1 square foot or more of ventilation per bird and you want to bump that up to 2-3 square feet per bird in hot climates. How I'd do it is I would have the 1 square foot per bird always open but the remaining 1-2 per bird as screened in (with hardware cloth) windows that can be opened for additional ventilation in summer and closed in winter to avoid drafts

 

[aart]

she was out free ranging, ran over to get some egg that we were offering, and about a min later, was thrashing and dead within minutes.

Could she have maybe choked from eating the eggs to fast?

I have both hot and cold, fairly extreme at times.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

 

[Mrs. K]

I know where you are coming from. Once in a group of flock mates, around the 5 month age, give or take, I had a bird die, once a month for 3 months. I too, was starting to worry, and never had another one die for years. It had to be something genetic.

I always kind of hate the posts that ask 'how long can a chicken live?" And a lot of people do seem to have some that live for years and years. I had one get to 4 + years ago, and a coon got her, so maybe she would have lived longer. And currently I have Mrs. Feathers that I am pretty confident that she is 5, maybe 6. But that is the exception for me.

I too, have wide temperatures swings from -30 to 110. It is not uncommon for temperatures to swing more than 70 degrees in a day. Maybe that is why my chickens do not routinely live long lives. I have had a lot of chickens, just be dead from 2.5 years to 3.5 years. Just fine one moment, and dead the next. But if you think about it, they had a good life, and minimal suffering, if we all should be so lucky.

Mrs K

 

[SamCO]

Could she have maybe choked from eating the eggs to fast?

I have both hot and cold, fairly extreme at times.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

I don’t think she choked- I suppose she could have aspirated. It was just a raw egg from a broken egg that I tossed in a bowl and gave it to them. Who knows. I didn’t cut her open, but did look in her mouth and didn’t see anything, not that that means much.

 

[SamCO]

Sorry for your loss
We don't get extreme cold here, but we do get hot summers with temps close to 100F being the norm. My flock consists of easter eggers, lakeside egger (basically an easter egger variety exclusive to Meyer hatchery) and a single buff orpington. I can't say any of them are happy about the heat, but they all manage just fine here and they would all do well in a colder environment too (EEs and LEs have pea combs, muffs and beards, the LEs have crests and BOs are big fluffy birds). If no one else gets ill or dies I would chalk it up to either random chance or heat stroke as you guessed (I have heard faverolles tend not to be particularly smart birds....). Still, it would be a good idea to check your ventilation situation in your coop. You generally want 1 square foot or more of ventilation per bird and you want to bump that up to 2-3 square feet per bird in hot climates. How I'd do it is I would have the 1 square foot per bird always open but the remaining 1-2 per bird as screened in (with hardware cloth) windows that can be opened for additional ventilation in summer and closed in winter to avoid drafts

I actually had the coop door open all day the day she died, between that, the vents, and the three windows, it was not any hotter inside than outside, possibly even a few degrees less. I do always worry I don’t have enough ventilation but this hasn’t been a prob in 2.5 years. She definitely seemed like a pretty dumb bird, though extremely sweet. So maybe she just didn’t figure out how to go cool down. Who knows. No more losses as of today though. It was around 100 today and yesterday, and everyone else has been fine.

 

[aart]

I suppose she could have aspirated.

That's what I meant, and I suppose that could happen with a raw egg.