Lost 2 hens today

[martin60]

Thanks for all the replies.

They did have water, I only had one waterer in with them. I change the water every day and wash out the container, so no algae issues. The run is really well shaded, so I don't think it was a heat issue, but not sure.

The food didn't get wet and I clean the trough at least every other day and sort out all the non food items every day. I'm not feeding DE or treats. The dead chickens seemed fat and full. I hadn't been giving them grit, but got some yesterday (actually before I found the dead chickens) and put some out yesterday.

No dried poop on their butts. All the droppings look normal. Their bedding is coastal hay.

When we had chickens before, once they were 2 months or so old, we rarely lost one, so I'm puzzled as to what happened.

 

[CallyB57]

Was there a thunderstorm - someone told me a while back that a loud noise can give a bird a heart attack. When we have loud thunder clap-type storms, I run out to the coop and talk to my chickens - stupid, but it makes ME feel better.

 

[martin60]

No thunderstorms, just a light rain.

I know they didn't get wet because the run is covered and the rain was so light and the wind wasn't strong enough to blow it in from the sides.

 

[ma hen]

maybe something bit them?

 

[martin60]

Not that I could tell. I looked all over and didn't see any tooth/fang marks. We don't have any snakes around-in the 2 years we've lived in this house, I've only seen 1 small snake and it was dead.

One of them looked like she was just roosting on the ground, with her legs tucked up under her. At first, I thought she was just asleep.

The other one looked like she just fell down dead, with her legs stretched out.

I'm hoping I don't have any surprises when I get home today.

 

[martin60]

Well, no new losses to report. The other 6 are doing fine. Thanks for all the replies.

 

[astatula]

If you ever figure it out conclusively, I'm sure everyone here would like to know the answer to this one.

That does not seem possible for a chicken of that age to just drop. I would change the food anyway, just in case. It takes too much time to raise them to that point and lose them, or spend 10 bucks on some new feed.

Keep checking their poop, when you can, to see if any show signs of diarrhea or blood in the droppings.

 

[martin60]

I changed the feed and added ACV to the water. I hadn't been before, but like I said, everything seemed fine.
If I ever figure out what happened, I'll let everyone know.