Hi, my family is brand new to owning chickens. We brought home three chicks in March and have been raising them. We suffered one hen being carried off by a fox at around 11 weeks; a friend gave us another (same age and breed) to replace our loss since it was my 9-year-old's chicken that he raised and lost to the fox. THEN, two days later, another of our hens suffered a predator attack. There were gashes on the throat at top of the wing. We isolated the hen while she healed, but being new and naive, did not apply antibiotics in time. All we did was wash it out a bit and isolate. The hen seemed to heal nicely, was reintegrated into the small flock, and all was well for the past 7-10 days. Today, when we opened up the coop she would not come out. We looked and thought she was dead, but she was barely alive. She was not moving, couldn't keep eyes open, and seemed to have been passing blood in the coop, which she was sitting in. We removed her, tried our best to save her with advice from a chicken-raising friend, but sadly, she passed by midday.
I suspect that this chicken may have been harboring an infection from the attack nearly a month ago. The other hens in our small flock seem fine. However, is there anything special I need to do for the remaining two hens? Are they at risk of illness? We cleaned out the coop litter and put in fresh bedding. Not sure if I should be doing anything else though. I'm not entirely sure why the hen died in the first place. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!
I suspect that this chicken may have been harboring an infection from the attack nearly a month ago. The other hens in our small flock seem fine. However, is there anything special I need to do for the remaining two hens? Are they at risk of illness? We cleaned out the coop litter and put in fresh bedding. Not sure if I should be doing anything else though. I'm not entirely sure why the hen died in the first place. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!
