TommyGunner
Hatching
- Aug 14, 2015
- 2
- 0
- 9
I have had chooks for about 5 months, Aggie, Evie and Hetty and am still learning but they have all seemed very happy and healthy. Last night I went and closed the door on their coop, maybe a little bit later than I do normally. I don't normally look in the coop to make sure they are all okay, i just close the door and leave them until the morning.
This morning I went down and opened the coop door and 2 of them came out looking a bit subdued, all 3 normally come out together and then go back in during the morning to lay.
I opened the hatch to the coop and found one of the girls dead and I am trying to work out what caused it. Her back end was quite bloody and it looked as though she had some organs hanging out the back of her (sorry to be so graphic! I just want to figure out what happened). There was blood spread around the inside of the coop.
I had always assumed that if a predator got in that they would get all three hens and if they had only got one they would have looked a bit more eaten if that makes sense.I live in the English countryside so our main predators are foxes and badgers.
If a predator had got to her it would have had to have happened before I shut them in. We have a cat but he has never bothered them before and the other 2 didn't give him a wide bearth this morning when I was cleaning the coop out.
I read about prolapse and was wondering if it could have been this. Can it cause them to die quite suddenly? If it was a prolapse is there anything I can do to prevent it? Can diet cause it?
I always keep an eye on the hens and they have all seemed healthy and happy, they had all been laying each day. I give them mixed feed, meal worms each day and cabbage once or twice per week to peck at as all of the greenery in their pen is long gone.
I have never seen any of them bullying each other, could one of them attacked her?
Any views would be most welcome, I am a bit stumped and want to do my best to protect the other 2 from harm. I love my chickens to bits and was really sad to lose one.
Tom
This morning I went down and opened the coop door and 2 of them came out looking a bit subdued, all 3 normally come out together and then go back in during the morning to lay.
I opened the hatch to the coop and found one of the girls dead and I am trying to work out what caused it. Her back end was quite bloody and it looked as though she had some organs hanging out the back of her (sorry to be so graphic! I just want to figure out what happened). There was blood spread around the inside of the coop.
I had always assumed that if a predator got in that they would get all three hens and if they had only got one they would have looked a bit more eaten if that makes sense.I live in the English countryside so our main predators are foxes and badgers.
If a predator had got to her it would have had to have happened before I shut them in. We have a cat but he has never bothered them before and the other 2 didn't give him a wide bearth this morning when I was cleaning the coop out.
I read about prolapse and was wondering if it could have been this. Can it cause them to die quite suddenly? If it was a prolapse is there anything I can do to prevent it? Can diet cause it?
I always keep an eye on the hens and they have all seemed healthy and happy, they had all been laying each day. I give them mixed feed, meal worms each day and cabbage once or twice per week to peck at as all of the greenery in their pen is long gone.
I have never seen any of them bullying each other, could one of them attacked her?
Any views would be most welcome, I am a bit stumped and want to do my best to protect the other 2 from harm. I love my chickens to bits and was really sad to lose one.
Tom
