How much death is normal?

[Danosaur]

I just lost my third hen in 18 months. Each death has been something non-contagious that progressed over a week or so, and none of the other birds have ever been affected. I believe the first girl died from gapeworm or some other respiratory issue. The second went lethargic and died when I tried to give it water with a dropper (oops). This last one had diarrhea and stopped eating and drinking over the past week and I woke up to find her stiff, despite my trying to give her corid over the past couple of days.

I'm fairly new at this (coming up on two years) and I have a small backyard flock that has been 3-6 birds. My question is -- is this normal, am I just very unlucky, or am I doing something wrong?

Follow up question, when you see you have a sick bird, how do you decide what course of medical treatment to follow?

 

[coach723]

There is no magic number for how many deaths is normal. There are so many variables. Age, how they are kept, how they are fed, genetics, virus's in the flock, predators, etc. Sometimes you just have a run of bad luck and lose a few birds in a small amount of time, may be from similar causes or very different causes. If you don't know why a bird died, particularly if you suspect something contagious, then sending them to your state poultry lab for a necropsy is the best way to find out. It can provide valuable information. For some obvious things you can learn to do your own informal necropsies and look for obvious abnormalities in organs, tumors, etc. Most reproductive problems are fairly easy to identify on your own that way.
As for how to decide how to treat, that depends on what kind of symptoms you are seeing, and sometimes the history of your flock. If you have a confirmed virus in your flock then that may be something that you commonly have to deal with. If you have a history of coccidiosis outbreaks, again you may have to watch for that with chicks.
You can also learn an enormous amount from the experiences of others. Just reading posts on here regularly can teach you a lot. And there are always people here that are willing to share information based on their own experiences.
Necropsy resources:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf