First Casualty

[hmandelbaum]

Our flock is about 16 weeks and I'm getting excited for them to start laying. Just the other day I thought to myself, "wow we're really lucky, we haven't had any issues with any of them." I went in to check on the ladies today and clean out their coop and check for eggs to find one of my gals stiff on the floor of the coop. Oddly, the other 7 were just hanging around doing their thing normally. I let all 8 out this morning and Maria didn't look "off" or sick at all. There was an area of their run that was a bit raised and I'm suspicious there may have been a visitor but it would've had to have been in broad daylight and why wouldn't it take the others? There was no blood at all. There are quite a bit of feathers, but I've been noticing feathers in their coop too so I'm not sure if the feathers in their run are a result of an attack/fight today or just normal feather loss? I did notice some cobwebs in the corners of the coop. Could a spider be the culprit? I'm hoping that it isn't a sickness that the others might come down with and I'm hoping I don't have a predator that will return for the others. Any ideas?

 

[TeaChick]

IDK enough to advise about disease, but you could search the "Learning Center" tab at the top of the webpage.

You mentioned cobwebs; I would check them out. You might look online to find out how to identify the venomous spiders in your area.

I'm sorry to hear you lost one; I lost one a few weeks ago too. It's a sad thing. (((hugs)))

 

[chfite]

I would have thought that the chickens would have eaten the spider.

Chris