nbrandusa
In the Brooder
This morning after feeding our flock I looked out and saw one of our Ameraucanas laying on the ground in an obviously unnatural way...ran out to check and she was dead 
She was still warm so I knew it had JUST happened, and no obvious external injuries or predators nearby, she hadn't seemed sick or anything...I did notice however it looks like her vent had prolapsed, it isn't red or swollen like others I've seen though so I don't know if it is just a normal post-mortem reaction to muscle loosening, but I've never seen it after losing other chickens before...ugh I just want to pinpoint a cause so I know if I need to be concerned about the rest of the flock, they all seem to be ok right now so I just don't know! :/
Not sure if this means anything but this particular hen had been a bit of a naughty girl lately, jumping out of the run to lay her eggs in the yard...none of the other hens do that, and we had a rooster that we had to rehome recently that she seemed close to, so maybe this was a stress reaction??
She was still warm so I knew it had JUST happened, and no obvious external injuries or predators nearby, she hadn't seemed sick or anything...I did notice however it looks like her vent had prolapsed, it isn't red or swollen like others I've seen though so I don't know if it is just a normal post-mortem reaction to muscle loosening, but I've never seen it after losing other chickens before...ugh I just want to pinpoint a cause so I know if I need to be concerned about the rest of the flock, they all seem to be ok right now so I just don't know! :/Not sure if this means anything but this particular hen had been a bit of a naughty girl lately, jumping out of the run to lay her eggs in the yard...none of the other hens do that, and we had a rooster that we had to rehome recently that she seemed close to, so maybe this was a stress reaction??
