Found hen dead in coop

[EMZ]

I just came home from a long day to find my hen dead in the coop. She didn’t have any injuries that I saw. She wasn’t acting weird or off leading up to her death. No blood. I’m assuming the heat maybe or she fell off her roost because it was on the ground next to her. But my question is do I need to like sanitize the coop so my other two remain healthy? I’m a first time owner and they are 20 weeks. She was laying consistently before and laid yesterday but today when I got home she was dead outside the nesting box and no egg.

 

[FrostRanger]

Sorry for your loss
No, if she didn't die of illness and she wasn't there too long, just remove her. If you think the heat might have been an issue though, I'd look at increasing ventilation in the coop and possibly adding more shade outside the coop to prevent any other heat related issues

 

[EMZ]

Sorry for your loss
No, if she didn't die of illness and she wasn't there too long, just remove her. If you think the heat might have been an issue though, I'd look at increasing ventilation in the coop and possibly adding more shade outside the coop to prevent any other heat related issues

I have a coop from tractor supply. So I will look into maybe a big tarp over it to create shade or a small little patio. Thank you for getting back to me. I changed out the wood shavings and changed their water just incase since I had no idea if I needed to or not. Thank you

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I just came home from a long day to find my hen dead in the coop. She didn’t have any injuries that I saw. She wasn’t acting weird or off leading up to her death. No blood. I’m assuming the heat maybe or she fell off her roost because it was on the ground next to her. But my question is do I need to like sanitize the coop so my other two remain healthy? I’m a first time owner and they are 20 weeks. She was laying consistently before and laid yesterday but today when I got home she was dead outside the nesting box and no egg.

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about your pullet.

Speculation since you found her outside of the nesting box and no egg, she had just come into lay, she may have been egg bound, but it's just guesses, unless you still have the body and are able to send it for necropsy through your State Lab. Alternatively, if you are up to it, you can look at the internals to see if you find anything obvious. If you do that, take some photos and we'll help you with what you see.

Generally, you do not need to sanitize the coop, just removing the body is fine.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry about your loss. If your pullet died of anything other than heat or an internal problem, there is no need to sanitize your coop because the others have already been exposed to it. Can you post a pic of your coop? Maybe we could see some issues that should be addressed.

 

[FrostRanger]

I have a coop from tractor supply. So I will look into maybe a big tarp over it to create shade or a small little patio. Thank you for getting back to me. I changed out the wood shavings and changed their water just incase since I had no idea if I needed to or not. Thank you

Prefab coops are notorious for having too little ventilation. I would strongly suggest increasing ventilation if you're using one. Generally you want a bare minimum of one square foot of ventilation per bird, more in hot climates (2-3 square feet per bird minimum in that case)