Hen died; blood in sealed coop!? Please help!

[Kembokid9379]

Until this morning, I've had 8 chickens: 7 hens and a rooster. They were born approximately 9 months ago, April 1st. They've been laying fine, and are staring to slow down due to the cold New England weather. Yesterday was particularly warm for the time of year, so we let them out to free-range for the day. However, when we opened the coop door yesterday, there were blood splatters all throughout the coop: walls, waterer, roosts, and all. They live in a coop as secure as Fort Knox, which we lock up every night, so the blood was extremely peculiar. We inspected every chicken; not one had any visible signs of injury and all free-ranged throughout the day perfectly normally. We decided to let bygones be bygones, and put the birds away that night. This morning was warm again, so we went to let the birds out. We opened the door to find one of the 7 hens sprawled dead in the center of the floor. There were no easily visible signs of injury, but alas, Roxie was dead. She was again, about 9 months old, fairly large (probably the largest of the 7 hens), a Bard Rock, and had been laying eggs since late August. If anyone has any ideas as to the cause of either the blood in the coop or the girl's death, please let me know. Thank you.

 

[jennh]

She might have had an injury that you couldn't see, but the girls could. They WILL kill another weaker, or slightly injured hen.

JMHO,
Jen

 

[Kembokid9379]

She was the largest of the birds, and i can't imagine why the blood was found the day before the body if she was attacked. Her body was in pretty good condition, too. Still, thanks for the reply.

 

[CMV]

Cocci?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

It sounds like they've been fighting in there and they killed one.

 

[geebs]

comb injury... they shake their heads and it stripes and splatters the walls.. It is a head injury so it bleeds alot and all you may see is some dark spots on the comb...

 

[Kembokid9379]

I'd have to look more closely at her comb, thanks. However, there was no blood on the chicken, or any of the chickens when the body was found. So she would have had to sustained this comb injury the night before, then lived fine for a day, and died the next night.

 

[Judy]

Or, possibly two unrelated events. Maybe the blood the first time was a rat or something that they killed and ate.

An injured comb does make sense.

Why do you say her body was in "pretty good" condition? Was there a problem with it? Did you open her up to see if you could see an internal injury or problem?

Occasionally a rooster actually kills a hen during mating. Was she a favorite of his? Is he a lot bigger than the girls?

Her being the largest doesn't make her the top dog or even a dominant hen, by the way. My little Leghorn may be the top dog, certainly near the top, and she is by far the smallest of the bunch. Has more to do with personality than size.

Interesting mystery.

 

[Kembokid9379]

I've been wondering if the events were related at all myself. However, there was far more blood in the coop than any mouse holds. By pretty good condition, i meant that there were no visible signs of injury. However, i did not thoroughly examine her body or open her up. It's the first bird we've lost so it was more of a tragedy. As for the rooster, he is much larger than the hens, and i had consider her being injured by him. I don't think she was the favorite of his, its usually the two smallest girls around him.

 

[Kembokid9379]

I've been wondering if the events were related at all myself. However, there was far more blood in the coop than any mouse holds. By pretty good condition, i meant that there were no visible signs of injury. However, i did not thoroughly examine her body or open her up. It's the first bird we've lost so it was more of a tragedy. As for the rooster, he is much larger than the hens, and i had consider her being injured by him. I don't think she was the favorite of his, its usually the two smallest girls around him. Thanks for your input though.