Lice

[Midwayruth]

Thank you for your input. I heard mid morning a terrible racket coming from the pen and when I got outside I saw a hawk on the fence trying to get in. The birds were screaming and I am wondering if that hawk might have tried it earlier and scared the bird to death, isn't that possible. We have 3 very large areas for the bird that is totally fenced; walls and ceiling-no bird can get through to the hens.

 

[casportpony]

Highly unlikely that she was scared to death. You might want to look into finding a vet that can check their poop for worm eggs.

-Kathy

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I guess anything may be able to be scared to death but I doubt a healthy chicken could.
Chickens are both prey and predator animals.
Their genetics cause them to be wary of predators and do what it takes to escape, especially aerial predators.

However, some breeds have had a lot of good self preservation genetics bred out of them.
I'm thinking silkies for one.

 

[dragondroolz]

Just a suggestion for the future since it seems this has been awhile, and I'm sorry about your loss but you may be able to call your local Veterinarian colleges, you can donate necropies for educational purposes and many times it's absolutely free. I donated our pet rat that died for research to Colorado State University.