Hen died out of no where

[Kathy Golla]

Oh my goodness what a beautiful and unique set up.
Thank you for sharing!
I’m going to respectfully suggest that the problem might be your bamboo in the run. They may be eating more of it than you think and the stalk and the leaves are extremely fibrous.
I know miners lettuce well, I’m just not sure that would do it.
Don’t beat yourself up! Each one of us can tell multiple stories...you can do all the reading and prep you can, but you never learn about the reality of stuff until it happens to you with your hens.

 

[colette peters]

@Kathy Golla I just bought 2bags of that same grit you just posted on amazon. I like that one cause it has added probiotics
I usually throw a few handfuls in the run. What suggestions do you have make sure they get enough grit?

 

[colette peters]

Oh my goodness what a beautiful and unique set up.
Thank you for sharing!
I’m going to respectfully suggest that the problem might be your bamboo in the run. They may be eating more of it than you think and the stalk and the leaves are extremely fibrous.
I know miners lettuce well, I’m just not sure that would do it.
Don’t beat yourself up! Each one of us can tell multiple stories...you can do all the reading and prep you can, but you never learn about the reality of stuff until it happens to you with your hens.

Even though they have been living in it for three years? The bamboo is now at the point where they have to jump to get at it. But maybe the droppings of the old leaves?
And Just for clarity I literally pulled miners lettuce from the root from a neighbors yard and gave it to them. And I threw it in the run.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Great news about the grit.
Put down a cat sized crockery bowl or two full of it and keep it full. You can get good crockery pet bowls at home goods.
Or if you have welded wire where they eat, get a couple of those stainless food bowls for dog crates and hang them on the wire. If you look on amazon under “coop cup” there are ideas too.
Also, I know these are completely ugly and would not be fashionable with your beautiful set up, but my hens go nuts for these coop cups. I do not know what it is about them. Your feed store probably has them.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XY7D35R/?tag=backy-20
Place a couple of bowls in different places where they congregate to eat.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

My 3 year old hen died out of no where this morning. She’s been laying regularly, was with her flock yesterday with no symptoms of weakness or being any were near lethargia.
This morning I noticed she was hiding in the coop. Grabbed her and right away I knew she had hours to live. Panting, shivering and doughy crop.
I took her ASAP to the vet they examined her. Not egg bound but breathing was raspy and said she seemed very uncomfortable in the abdomen.
Any ideas of how my hen showed no signs of illness 12 hours ago, and by 7am she dies??? She was the mother hen and we are devastated.

That is so sad. I have heard of that happening with chickens and hopefully that does not happen to any of mine. Sorry for your heartbreak.

 

[Kathy Golla]

I’m going to suspect this bird had a hidden cache of something she was working on for many months.
I don’t think eating a weed would cause an intestinal obstruction within a couple of days that would kill her. I think it was something that built up over many months. There is a high likelihood it was only this bird who was eating this substance.
There may be others on byc who disagree based on their experiences.
I guess at any rate, keep an eye out for any hidden caches any bird is working on (mine was weed cloth the other day). Mine are extremely stealthy and it’s usually only one or two birds at a time that discover something undetected by me in the pen.
And grit.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Your white hen in one of the pics (without the furry legs), is that a Delaware?

 

[Stephine]

I bought the Manna Pro chicken grit and it is too big for my hens, they won’t touch it. Mine are happy with the grit from Rivertown.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Yeah Rivertown Feed is the bomb. We traveled more than an hour to get some of our chicks two years ago from there.

 

[colette peters]

Your white hen in one of the pics (without the furry legs), is that a Delaware?

Yes she is a Delaware
I have 2