First Chicken Loss, any ideas what happened..

[chickolet]

I have 3 Black Australorps I got last year at Tractor Supply.. they all are great layers.. lately I have been having an egg slightly misshaped with a thinner shell on one side. The hens have oyster shell in their food all the time.. yesterday I noticed the one hen in the nesting box for along time, she got out and was walking around, kept looking like she was struggling to lay.. she went under the coop where I continued to watch her.. she pushed and pushed, finally laying a "normal" egg.. There was a slight "discharge" before she laid it..
She was out this weekend free ranging and acting fine..
I checked on her a few hours ago she was in the box, I let her be.

Just went to close up and she is face down dead in front of the nesting box.. she did have a partial soft shell coming out of her with a slight amount of blood on it... is this internal laying?? I am new to this, any help is appreciated.. What did I miss???

thank you

 

[poseygrace]

I don't have any answers for you, but I am sorry for your loss!

 

[chickolet]

Thank you!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If she was laying daily then she wasn't building up too many eggs internally. Other than a soft egg shell she was laying normally I assume. It is odd for a year old hen to drop over suddenly like that. No external marks of attack or any sign of disease...odd indeed. Keep your eye on the others for signs any odd behavior and I wouldn't add new birds until your sure there isn't an illness present.

 

[chickolet]

NO signs of anything.. Like I mentioned, she was social and free ranging this weekend.. Other than an occasional "weird" egg here and there, but I dont know what hen was laying it..
I did watch her lay an egg the day before and appeared to be taking a long time or straining but she did lay it... and then appeared fine, so I dont know... Will keep an eye on them.

 

[write2caroline]

I lost a couple in a similar fashion. One, I think she was egg bound but before I could do anything about it she was gone. The other had never laid an egg but was injured a a chick and may have had internal issues I missed.

I am sorry for your loss.

Sometimes stuff just happens and there is no answers as to what you could have done to prevent it or change course on the loss. It sounds like you tried everything you could have tried.

She may have continued to have issues. It is never easy to lose one of your girls.

Hope that helps
Caroline

 

[Pele]

I'm very sorry that happened to you

It's hard to say without an autopsy, but it sounds like her reproductive system either malfunctioned, or got infected somehow. Just like humans can get internal tract infections, chickens can get infections too.

It's also possible that something internal failed. Maybe a ligament holding the organs in place ripped, or she had a fold in her reproductive system that delayed laying.

All I know if that I am sorry for your loss, and it doesn't sound like a disease to me, which is good news for the rest of your birds.

 

[Chick Charm]

That is too bad. There may have been some laying issues. Just speculating as I have never had this happen to any of my girls.