EE lost feathers on back and chest and died, are others at risk?

[ready4thegirls]

I am in mourning this morning. My favorite EE hen has been losing feathers over the last month or so. We had babies hatch so I put 4 of my larger hens and rooster in the covered run to separate them from the babies because I do not have a grow out pen. About a month ago I noticed my favorite EE was losing the feathers on her back. I figured it was the rooster over mating her because he had lost 2 other hens who stayed with the babies. This hen was the bottom of the pecking order and always squatted for him so it seemed logical that this was the cause. She continued to lay and didn't seem to be losing weight etc. I noticed a few times that he has scratched her back and it was red and had a scab in one spot. When I tried to separate her she freaked out, so I put her back in. I looked for bugs but didn't see anything. Yesterday I saw her in the nest box and she was curled up in a funny position, she was trying to put her head under her wing and she was breathing very heavy. The others were acting funny so I checked their water which was bone dry. We had 100 degree weather and we had a family emergency out of town so I didn't have a chance to fill it the day before, but I thought it would be ok because I usually only need to fill it every 3 days. I hurried to get them water and within a few minutes I saw my hen make a weird cluck sound and her breathing became very slow. By the time I got her out of the coop she was gone, I tried to put water in her beak just in case this was the problem but it was too late. We checked her out and noticed that her breast was starting to get bare as well, not just her back like I thought. Her head and neck, wings and butt still had feathers but pretty much everywhere else did not.

What happened? Did she get to hot and die from not having water and since she was the bottom of the pecking order did the other hens not let her have any? Was it because of her feathers falling out? A parasite? Should I be worried about the other hens? My second favorite hen has lost a few feathers on her back as well but not nearly as bad.

Also, the rooster attacked us as soon as we let them out to go get my EE and my husband hit him with a shovel and killed him. He had been a problem for awhile and we have small kids so we decided if it happened again that was it...although I didn't plan on losing 2 in one day so I am really upset and my husband feels bad about the timing. So I am not to worried about over breeding now, one of the babies is a rooster so we will still have one to watch over the flock for free ranging. The babies are 17 weeks now and the flock has been free ranging together for a few weeks now.

I am concerned that something else may be going on and I really don't want to lose anymore. Any advice is appreciated. This is my second year at this so I still have a lot to learn and have learned some hard lessons already. I am starting to feel very discouraged now

 

[cafarmgirl]

Try not to get discouraged, chickens are very hard to diagnose and very often die showing few or no symptoms. There is no way to know for sure what killed your hen without having a necropsy done. It's possible she had something else going on and being hot and without water pushed her over the edge.

I would check them all very carefully for lice/mites. Go into the coop after dark with a flashlight and check the birds and roosts for mites, that's when they come out to feed. You can dust them all with poultry dust if you want to be sure.

If they aren't on a regular deworming program you might want to strongly consider doing so. Heavy loads of parasites, internal or external, can weaken a bird to the point that it dies.

That is where I'd start. If you should happen to have another bird die with similar symptoms check into getting a necropsy done. Some state labs will do them for free and they will test for everything under the sun, far more definitive then somebody just opening the bird up and taking a look inside.