Found 8 month olds Easteregger dead in nesting box HELP

[455Cutlassdave]

Just found one of the girls dead with no apparent injuries. She was okay this morning when I checked in on them and when I came home 4 hours later she was gone. I haven't had any issues like this in the past and am worried about what could have caused it.

I did get my first double yoke 2 days ago and its the first one ever and it was from an Easter egger. Is it possible that perhaps this bird laid the egg and had internal injury from it, then egg was rather large. Anyone have any ideas? I'm kinda freaking out and want to make sure its not something that may effect the rest of the flock.

Thanks
David

 

[Eggcessive]

She could have died of being egg bound, but other natural causes such as a heart or other problem could have killed her. It is common to occasionally lose a hen around the time she first starts laying. A necropsy done at home could help you rule out egg binding, an impacted crop or blocked gizzard. Refrigerate her body and send it to your state vet or dept. of agriculture for a necropsy where they could look for a possible cause of death. Sorry for your loss.

 

[455Cutlassdave]

Here is the abnormally large egg we got 2 days ago. it would not even fit into the egg cartoon due to girth and length. Being that the hen was only 8 months old and not at full body size I can imagine that would have been a struggle if it did come from her.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

So very sorry you had this experience. I lost one, a Delaware, from my very first flock on Christmas Day of all days, and she was just past point of lay. Not a mark on her. Since it was a holiday, there was no opportunity to take her in for a necropsy.

Sometimes they just die. It happened again to me a few years later with a Speckled Sussex. That time we did take her in and their finding was a spontaneous hemorrhage of the liver. She was less than two years old. I lost another one to ovarian cancer and another to internal laying. So many things can go wrong, none of which we have control over.

 

[MeepBeep]

You didn't mention how many birds you have, but they can sometimes get 'snuffed' by others if multiple hens crowed into a single nesting box at once...

Other times if they are injured or ill they will seek a safe place like a nesting box, and their already ill state can increase the risk of getting 'snuffed' by the other birds...

 

[455Cutlassdave]

I've got or had 16 hens. I have 9 nesting boxes but they typically only use 3 or four of them. The one that the bird was found in was the most commonly used box and I have seen more then one bird in it at a time on a few occasions.

 

[MeepBeep]

Just figured I would mention it, late last year while collecting eggs I had to remove 5 birds from a single nesting box, and found one flat one in the back that wasn't so lucky...