Help! Two chickens dead no obvious cause

[chullylou]

I have 3 hens about 17 weeks old. Woke up this morning to two of them dead. No signs of injury, no way of a rodent getting in. One was in the nesting box, the other on the hut floor. One had a bit of a grey greasy bottom but that's about all I can tell you. Their hut is completely clean, they have fresh water and good food. Please can someone offer up any explanation? They were really healthy and happy yesterday. We are very sad and our remaining bird is all alone now. Please help?

 

[casportpony]

Sorry for your losses...

Where do you live?

-Kathy

 

[chullylou]

In uk. Midlands. We are so sad about it

 

[casportpony]

In the US we have State labs and many of them will do free necropsies, maybe there is something like that in the UK?

-Kathy

 

[gander007]

Oh this is always heart breaking even more with such a small flock
but if it was because of the cold they would have all been huddled
together and this dose not seem to be the case here and being
healthy one day and gone the next is mind boggling not that this
happened to me before, now might be the time to look around to
see what is in the yard ,,,, plants, broken glass, plastic ect.....
And yes I have found these things even though I check regularly
for such things they stipp pop up time to time .........

gander007

 

[chullylou]

I have thoroughly checked their pen, nothing in there that they could have eaten. I have looked through their feathers and there was no lice or mites. They were both chunky so had been eating well. I really need closure, I need to understand what could have happened to my beautiful girls, we cherished them! I don't think they do necropsy in the uk so it's all guess work really. My two girls haven't stopped crying!

 

[seminolewind]

I had 2 just mysteriously die over night and my only conclusion was that there was a dead mouse in a trap for a few days , and then it was gone. So I'm guessing the two of them shared it. (they couldn't get to it until a gate got left open)