Disease or is this the norm? I need some advice.

[FinnEllaMom]

Today I found one of my hens (Carol) dead in the coop. This summer we have lost 5 hens including Carol. One of them my husband performed an autopsy on and she was egg bound. Our girls are three yrs. old. Of the 5 - 2 definitely passed away from being egg bound, 2 - I don't know why & one died after going after another hen and she got kicked by the hen she went after. I took pictures of Carol's bottom... the area right under her vent which didn't look normal when I found her this afternoon. I can post those if it will be helpful, but it's gross. I did check to see if she was egg bound but I didn't feel any egg. She hasn't laid in quite sometime, but I have a few others that aren't laying either. Yesterday I had them out and everybody seemed to be fine doing their normal thing when they're in the yard. I thought that maybe the lack of egg laying was due to mites, but they aren't displaying any signs that they have mites. I just don't know what to do. Is this normal to have 3 yr. old hens just dying?

We have one very long chicken run. But it is divided into three sections for our girls. The biggest run housed 3 of the girls that passed away this summer. That run is 8' wide by 30 - 35' long. Not including the Hen house area. Part of it is shaded, the Hen house area has a fan in it. I live in Central Florida and yes, it does get hot here. But they have fresh cold water and plenty of areas to get out of the sun. Is it possible they have some parasite? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
I'm a sad, dismayed chicken Mama. And yes, this is my first flock.

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

@sourland

@3KillerBs I was wondering about the measurements of the coop if you could help

 

[3KillerBs]

@sourland

@3KillerBs I was wondering about the measurements of the coop if you could help

The run dimensions are GENEROUSLY sized for the number of hens stated -- at least 24 square feet per bird.

I don't know much about chicken health problems, but I have to ask what breed these hens are. The high-production layers, such as most of the red sex-links, are notorious for developing problems in their reproductive tracts as they age and 3-years is getting up there for a high-production layer.

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

The run dimensions are GENEROUSLY sized for the number of hens stated -- at least 24 square feet per bird.

I don't know much about chicken health problems, but I have to ask what breed these hens are. The high-production layers, such as most of the red sex-links, are notorious for developing problems in their reproductive tracts as they age and 3-years is getting up there for a high-production layer.

Thanks for the input. I’m horrible with math.