Dead baby hen with what looks like her entire vent area blown out with a huge hole

[SpiderQueen]

My son in law is currently housing his 1-2 month old baby hens in our 12x12 enclosed chicken cage/coop . Today his 2 month old Americauna was found dead with her entire vent area blown out. That is the best description I can give. They are currently being fed a mixture of chick grit and chick feed along with a small amount of scratch grains. They have fresh clean water everyday and their cage is kept very clean. She was doing fine and when we went in the pen 2-3 hours later she was on the ground dead. I checked the entire enclosure for pests/rodents/etc and there was nothing. I also checked the entire coup for whatever may have been "blown" out of her. Nothing. Of course some of the chicks were pecking at the area and had some blood on their beaks, so I won't know for sure if they maybe ate whatever did come out. Anyways, I just really am wondering what happened in the few hours from the time we saw her alive til death. I opened her up and there were no signs of worms. Any thoughts? The picture is a bit bad because the area was messy from her laying on the dirt ground...

 

[azygous]

If you saw no evidence of a predator, from a rat or weasel or possum to a skunk or an owl getting in, you might conclude the pullet died from something that caused her vent to prolapse. It's natural for the remaining chicken to begin pecking at the bloody prolapse.

Prolapse in such a young chicken is rare but it can happen if the chick becomes very constipated and is straining very hard to defecate. The inside of the vent protrudes and appears as raw meat and is naturally inviting for chickens to peck at, which makes it bloodier, and the end result appears to be a "blown out vent". Yes, some chickens can literally be eaten alive.

But a predator getting in and killing the pullet is just as likely. Owls and possums and even raccoons can access a coop or run up high through an unscreened vent. It may seem too high and too narrow for these predators, but I've seen threads here where a chicken mysteriously dies, the next night another one dies, and the owner swears the rooster did it. Finally, they discover some narrow crack where the predator gained entry and they never would have figured it out if it hadn't been for the game cam they set up in order to solve the mystery.

 

[Eggcessive]

Her vent has been pecked and cannibalized. How many chickens are in the 12x12 enclosed area? They may be overcrowded or too warm. Once an area gets pecked and bleeds, the chicks will all begin to peck at it. I would stop the grit and scratch grains. Put the grit in a separate container for them if they need some. The scratch does not have enough protein and it dilutes the chick feed. So feed just the balanced chick without the grit, and they will take what they need. A small occasional treat is okay, but that might include bits of scrambled chopped egg, tuna, or other high protein foods.