Had a hen die today

[mwilliams12]

I just found her in the coop. She was completely fine yesterday, acting normal. Only 5 months old and a buff Orpington, she hadn't started laying yet so I don't think a bound egg. My other two are doing fine. They had plenty of water and feed. It's been 90 degrees and breezy lately, and they had plenty of shade. Any ideas of what could have caused this. I'm heart broken. She was beautiful and finally starting to get used to my family. We bought her almost a month ago.


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[runt325]

I just found her in the coop. She was completely fine yesterday, acting normal. Only 5 months old and a buff Orpington, she hadn't started laying yet so I don't think a bound egg. My other two are doing fine. They had plenty of water and feed. It's been 90 degrees and breezy lately, and they had plenty of shade. Any ideas of what could have caused this. I'm heart broken. She was beautiful and finally starting to get used to my family. We bought her almost a month ago.


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possibly a heat stroke

 

[mwilliams12]

Maybe. How would it happen now and not the last month when it's been 100+. This weeks actually been cooler


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[runt325]

Maybe. How would it happen now and not the last month when it's been 100+. This weeks actually been cooler


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if its been 100+ then the warm air then to cool air might've done it

 

[ejcrist]

Sorry to hear about that. I'm new to raising chickens myself so I don't have a lot of experience to draw from, but I've read of many reasons why seemingly healthy birds die unexpectedly. You could get a necropsy or even do an autopsy yourself to see if there's anything abnormal going on such as tumors, etc. From what I gather chickens are extremely good at hiding their weaknesses because they're a social (flock) prey animal, so if one falls ill it's likely the others will oust him/her to protect the flock and not attract predators. So it's entirely possible your bird had an issue and did the usual good job of covering it up. If you only have two left I'd see if you could replace her since they seem to do best with as many around as you could reasonably keep. Also if you have a couple it isn't as big an impact if/when you lose one here and there. I wish you all the best.

 

[runt325]

And do u have a predator proof coop

 

[mwilliams12]

I do. It wasn't predator. I have 1/4 in hardware cloth encasing the run which is covered. And the coop is lined all around with hardware cloth as well. Even with a foot buried in the ground.


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