linz16
In the Brooder
- Sep 25, 2016
- 4
- 1
- 12
I have six 9 month old hens. They have all been acting perfectly normal, eating fine, looking good, laying regularly (for being winter). They all appear to get along as they were all brought home together as babies and I have never had a single illness or issue.
The other day I came home from work with some veggie scraps and walk up to see one of my hens with something dangling from her mouth. As I walk closer I notice my leghorn hen Sweet Dee (of course one of our favorites) has been destroyed and my other hen has her intestines hanging out of her mouth :-( it was awful to see. Her body was absolutely destroyed, reminded me of in high school when you dissect animals because her head and legs were in tact, but her body appeared as if something was eating at it all day. I cannot seem to figure out how all this happened.
There was snow on the ground so I did not see any animal tracks. I thought maybe a hawk got to her, but there was no trail of blood and her body appeared to just be in the one spot, just outside the coop door (thats where the only sign of blood and feathers were) If something was attacking her, she didn't appear to have tried to run away as there were no chicken tracks outside of this area either. She laid an egg earlier that day (I'm positive it was her she's my only white egg layer) so she wasn't egg bound and she didn't appear to have a prolapsed vent. But, if she was sick and just dropped dead, would my hens really have done all this damage?
This is my first death and I am absolutely devastated. These girls are my babies and I love them! I knew it would happen eventually but they're only 9 months old. I am just at a loss and so scared that I will be coming home soon again to a similar scene. Does anyone have any thoughts on what may have happened?
The other day I came home from work with some veggie scraps and walk up to see one of my hens with something dangling from her mouth. As I walk closer I notice my leghorn hen Sweet Dee (of course one of our favorites) has been destroyed and my other hen has her intestines hanging out of her mouth :-( it was awful to see. Her body was absolutely destroyed, reminded me of in high school when you dissect animals because her head and legs were in tact, but her body appeared as if something was eating at it all day. I cannot seem to figure out how all this happened.
There was snow on the ground so I did not see any animal tracks. I thought maybe a hawk got to her, but there was no trail of blood and her body appeared to just be in the one spot, just outside the coop door (thats where the only sign of blood and feathers were) If something was attacking her, she didn't appear to have tried to run away as there were no chicken tracks outside of this area either. She laid an egg earlier that day (I'm positive it was her she's my only white egg layer) so she wasn't egg bound and she didn't appear to have a prolapsed vent. But, if she was sick and just dropped dead, would my hens really have done all this damage?
This is my first death and I am absolutely devastated. These girls are my babies and I love them! I knew it would happen eventually but they're only 9 months old. I am just at a loss and so scared that I will be coming home soon again to a similar scene. Does anyone have any thoughts on what may have happened?
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