Hen just died - what now? what about the others?

[My4Hens]

One of our hens (just over a year old) died this morning. For the past week we noticed her comb was completely pale and flopped over. IN addition she was acting rather lethargic. We actually scheduled an appointment to take her to the University of Wisconsin Vet Hospital this morning, but she passed away before we got her there.

Now ... my question ...

Should I be concerned about the other hens? Should I have any diagnostic work run on her to see if the cause of death was infectious? Any tips would be great.

Thanks.

 

[glenolam]

I'm sorry you lost her!

IMHO (no offense either) it all depends on how much money you already have invested in these birds. Are they show birds or pure breeding stock or are they just your "average" backyard pets?

Sometimes they die because of infections and sometimes there's abnormalities they're born with that we never see. If you want to spend the time and money to get them all tested, then by all means do it. But if not, just carefully watch everyone else and if they're acting fine, peeing, pooing alright then you're probably OK. Make sure you've cleaned out the area she died in so there's no bacteria left, just in case.

I wish you the best!