Death in the flock. How to keep remaining hens healthy??

[BigBernice]

Well unfortunately, one of my sweet Cochin hens passed away. I walked out yesterday afternoon to bring out some fresh water and found her. She had no signs of illness, in fact she had followed me in the yard playfully just the day before. I am devastated; I think I'm just so shocked mostly. She was only 9 months old. I keep beating myself up wondering what I could have done or not done differently.

This is my first death in my flock, so I just keep going over everything in my head.

I took her body away from the coop and cleaned up around the spot where her body laid. I cleaned out the waterer and feeder. I can only guess that she died of some sort of disease because she sign of bodily injury.

I don't want anything to happen to the rest of my hens. Any suggestions on further precautions that I should take to ensure my flock is healthy??

Thanks so much.

 

[patandchickens]

Certainly there are some diseases that are so fast that a chicken can seem ok in the morning and be dead by nightfall. But the vast majority of diseases have symptoms other than (or anyhow, prior TO) death. If you never saw anything wrong with her, and have been reasonably observant about it, I would not be quite so quick to conclude it was a disease.

Chickens sometimes do die suddenly without warning, particularly pullets relatively new to laying. Stroke, heart attack, I dunno what technically but that sort of "physiological accident".

If it were me, I would try to examine the carcass carefully for any hints of something wrong, insofar as you can tell 'something wrong' from the normal results of death (blood pooling darkly in lower and downward-facing regions) and from postmortem being-pecked-at. In particular, check her vent to see if there is any sign of diarrhea, blood, or egg debris. (Diarrhea would suggest, although not prove, possibly-contagious infection; blood would suggest possible prolapse or laying difficulties or fatal pecking; egg debris would suggest laying difficulties)

Then I would also carefully examine all the other chickens, paying particular attention to their vent area but also seeing that the comb and nostrils and eyes looked normal and checking closely for mites/lice.

Unless you find some particularly-suggestive signs or problems, I suspect you can probably chalk it up to one-off bad luck.

Condolences and best wishes,

Pat

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i'm so sorry for your loss.

Like Pat said, chickens can die from any number of things. i had a hen pass away several months ago and was lucky enough to have my vet offer to do a free necropsy. Turns out she had liver cancer. There was nothing i could have done.

Check your state's Dept of Agriculture website. i found the link here: http://www.ncagr.gov/vet/ At the bottom is the information to contact your State Vet. Ask them if there is a University or other veterinary teaching hospital they know of that will perform a free necropsy. i am lucky to have UC Davis within driving distance of me here in Northern California. They will do a free (and extremely comprehensive) evaluation for anyone bringing in a sick (and they will euthanize) or dead chicken. That might put your mind to rest to know exactly what happened to her.

Or sometimes you just have to accept that you will never know. i had another hen pass away recently. i found her dead in the nest box. No illness, no signs of anything that had hurt or attacked her, her vent seemed fine - no prolapse or obstructed egg was seen. i didn't want to put her body through a necropsy. i wrapped her in beautiful glittery paper and gave her a proper burial under a huge redwood tree in our backyard. That just felt like the right thing to do.

 

[cobrien]

So sorry for your loss. This Colleen agrees with the last Colleen.

If it is not too late, having a necropsy done can give you insight into what happened and protect your flock. But if you don't or can't do this, just keep a close eye on the rest of your flock. Know that it is not that uncommon for this to happen and if your flock seems fine, they probably are. But just to be sure, even if they seem healthy, pick them up every day, feel their crops, look at their eyes, beaks, butts. Birds have evolved to hide their illnesses because if they don't they fall prey to predators or their own flock, so they sometimes only show symptoms when it is too late. It has happened to me too, a bird seems fine one day and I find them dead or near dead the next. In many cases I have found them surprisingly thin - they can lose weight quickly when sick, this is why I now pick them up as much as possible, every day or so, even when they look healthy. When I lose one and learn from it, pay more attention to my girls if I missed something, it seems to help my grieving process knowing that the rest of the flock may benefit.

 

[gsim]

I had one that was healthy and laying regularly, a Black Australorpe 8 mo old. Found her dead in the coop mid-morning during an egg run. She was in the corner under the poop board and was in full rigormortis. Figured she died the day or eve before. Not a mark to be seen, no evidence of pecking, vent looked normal. I finally discovered she had choked on something that she had swallowed. That might be the case with yours. Might have just swallowed something long that choked her to death. I have read posts on BYC that told of chooks found with twine hanging out of their beaks and their butts.

Yep! It was one piece, according to the poster!