I'm about to give up on chickens

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JacksonChickies

JacksonChickies

Songster
May 9, 2021
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Central British Columbia, Canada
This might not be the right place to post this but I swear the chicken raising gods have it out for me......I came home today at 430PM PDT and found Bandit (DOB 5/21/21) dead in the coop....little back story, we live in Central BC and the weather suddenly turned cold a few days ago...not terribly but the lowest was -7°C. We relocated our tractor coop to a wind protected corner of the yard Saturday afternoon and replaced the shavings one last time before "winter". This morning my husband opened the coop door and put the water in the run, both my girls were fine....by 430......Bandit was dead and stiff....What am I missing??? This is the 2nd chicken to turn up dead suddenly since we started in April...
 
BlindLemonChicken said:
Send Bandit for a necropsy-keep him in the fridge meantime. And don't give up. I had a couple sudden and mysterious deaths starting out. I don't have much encouragement except to say things happen and it can be hard but you aren't necessarily doing anything wrong.
Click to expand...
Can I even though she was frozen pretty solid??? Unfortunately at this point that isn't a financial possibility but I'll keep it in mind....
 
I’m sorry for your loss. Please don’t give up yet. Some people perform their own necropsies instead of sending them in.

You might describe your coop in more detail for those who live where it’s cold. I’m in California where it rarely dips below freezing. Is it insulated? Are you sure a breeze cannot hit the roost? Also ventilation is important, even when it’s cold. Is there unfrozen water available all the time?

Your other hen will need at least one friend. You might take on a couple and quarantine appropriately, if you can. You could try rehoming her, but that would be pretty hard on a single hen.
 
micstrachan said:
I’m sorry for your loss. Please don’t give up yet. Some people perform their own necropsies instead of sending them in.

You might describe your coop in more detail for those who live where it’s cold. I’m in California where it rarely dips below freezing. Is it insulated? Are you sure a breeze cannot hit the roost? Also ventilation is important, even when it’s cold. Is there unfrozen water available all the time?

Your other hen will need at least one friend. You might take on a couple and quarantine appropriately, if you can. You could try rehoming her, but that would be pretty hard on a single hen.
Click to expand...
I'll attach a photo, our coop is 4x3 with 3ft high walls over a 3x8 run. I have one roost at top wall height and 3 1ft² nesting boxes inside above the cleaning doors you see on the sides. We've sealed the windows on either end for winter and have enough bedding in it to cover the cleaning doors along the bottom. We have been bringing the water in overnight when we close the coop and swapping it at least once a day. I was running errands all day today and didn't have a chance to refresh the water today so it did have a skim of ice on top by 430
 

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