found a hen dead in coop,

[muenkel]

i found one of my hens of 17 , dead, i was collecting the eggs in the evening, and looking in the coop found one dead, on inspection her bottom where the eggs comes out was bloody and you could clearly see a hole the size of a quarter, i was thinking she died having an egg?, this morning i looked in the coop and there was blood spattered 3 ft high on the walls where they perch, in 3 different locations: has anyone had this happen to them, do we need to clean the blood off the walls?

 

[BantamLover21]

I'm sorry for your loss.

Its possible that she was egg bound and/or had a prolapsed vent. The other birds may have pecked at her (chickens tend to do this to injured birds), which may have scattered the blood and made her problem worse. After enough of that stress, a hole would have been made in her abdomen and she would have died from blood loss and shock.

I personally would clean the blood off the walls, but it probably won't hurt the other chickens to leave it there.

 

[Wyandottes7]

I'm sorry for your loss.

Its possible that she was egg bound and/or had a prolapsed vent. The other birds may have pecked at her (chickens tend to do this to injured birds), which may have scattered the blood and made her problem worse. After enough of that stress, a hole would have been made in her abdomen and she would have died from blood loss and shock.

I personally would clean the blood off the walls, but it probably won't hurt the other chickens to leave it there.

X2

 

[muenkel]

as of today the rhode Island Reds are 7 months old, i have in janurary snipped there beaks



so after loosing my hen ( above post) we have a total of 4 lost to egg binding? and two to what i think was as the hen was laying an egg the others attack and pulled out her insides, long tube like thing and they both died too

when the third hen went, her under side was very bloody too, we called farmers co-op where we purchased the chicks, he looked up and advised us to add oyster shells to there diet, and cut out the heater/light too. all seemed right in the coop until we had two that looked all torn up skin missing ( different days), my husband saw the other hens running around with what looked like a very large worn ( we figured it came from the hen) things quieted down, then two weeks ago i found a hen out side the coop for hours:
( normally they stay in side when its very cold and lots of snow in the pen)

upon checking on her i saw blood in the snow and checked her, she was very bloody too and her skin looked torn too, but appeared strong, not laying down like the others who died, so i put her in our inside coop, the one we used when they were babies ( i did find an egg in the snow too where she was standing), so she is doing find, her bottom still doesn't look good, kind of scabby blackish, but she is laying an very prettying egg every day and has starting …….crowing this morning

but yesterday i came home from work an looked in on the others and found a dead one in her laying box, she wasnt bloody at all, though on inspection of her vent (is that the right term? area i did see an egg, which i popped out, very healthy looking too.


so what are we doing wrong!!!! the coop is like 6ft by 5 ft, 6 ft high we have like 9 cubbies for laying , perch all the way around the coop, we give fresh water daily , refill the feed daily, give them now only about a 1/2 cup of cracked corn maybe 1x day some oyster shell stuff, occasionally , we don't want to over do it

they have plenty of ventilation, and because we keep going into the single numbers, and sometimes negatives,, we were advised to just keep piling on the pine shavings with out removing the old to help keep them warm, i put up boards to cover the windows when its very cold, we have to long narrow windows on each side of coop, hens can look outside, we did cover the windows with plastic, but they ripped large pieces off.

 

[muenkel]

this is what her vent area looks like two weeks after i separated her

 

[muenkel]

I should add, we had 18 birds, one died the first day, we now have 11,, 10 in coop and one insided, yeish their not even a year old yet

 

[petrel]

I don't think they have enough space. If my math is close, I think you may only have space for about 8 birds, based on the dimensions you quoted. You may also check roost space. Somewhere on here I read that you need about a foot of desirable roost per bird. Are the roosts appropriately spaced as well? If they are too close together, it may encourage picking for space, or out of boredom. Is the feed and water available to them in the coop? You mentioned that it has been too cold for them to venture out much. This would add to their stress, especially if they had to go out for feed and water.

I am pretty sure you can give them all the oyster shell you want. I just leave out a dispenser of Oyster shell, granite grit, and sand, so they can take as much as they need, when they need it. I don't think they would over do it.

That is some nightmarish chicken savagery. You may also be on the look for bullies. There may be a ring leader(s) leading the charge on lower ordered, or weakened birds. Some culling may be in order.

 

[muenkel]

they all look alike, the food and water are inside, I'm going to take a pic of the inside of coop...

 

[muenkel]

 

[Sarevan]

What kind of feed are you giving them and how high is the protein in the feed? It may be that they need a higher level of protein. Or they figured out that eggs are tasty and they attack a hen that is trying to lay. She would turn her head away from them making her butt vulnerable to attack and pecking to get the red vent and exposed egg. Are there any signs of pecking to head, loss of feathers in an area or feathers missing from back or tail?

The roosts look low enough that one from below could peck on one above especially if she is squatting on the roost. A vent that is pulsating and visible from below would be a pecking target. I would raise the roosts. How high are they now?

I would also take down the plastic it can block the crop or anywhere else internally in digestive system causing blockage and death if they ingest any of it. What is out of their reach will be fine anything they can reach should be removed and alternative found.

For roosts I use 2x4's so they are laying on their feet to keep them warm with feathers in winter. Curling toes around roost and toes not covered could get frostbite.

That is what I think from seeing the pictures, just the question of feed now.