I got 16 chicks on 5/14/11. I raised them into pullets without any loses. Just had all 16 lay for me last weekend..it was awesome. Then today I found one of my BA's laying 20 feet away from the road on my property with her head hanging down and breathing hard..making a gurgling raspy sound. The dh and I carefully took her inside and I looked her over, no visible damage. She had some small cuts on her beak and around her eyes. By the road there's alot of briers. I found only 4 feathers by the road but none on it. I looked around the road throughly..I did find an area directly across from where we found her where a chicken had been scratching. Now this BA, whom I called "imposter chicken" b/c she looks like "wild chicken" my favorite chicken so much ..I would pick her up and it wasn't until she started to freak out I would know shes the wrong chicken. But this chicken..along with a BR was obsessed with the road, she was the only one that would cross it, I am constantly chasing those two from the road. We are planning to put up a fence and now have moved this up to a top priority because of this. When I came back from checking the road my DH was with her and talking to her, she was throwing her neck up and opening her mouth and making this awful gurgling noise and would shake her head. There was blood and other goo coming up and then all of a sudden she flug her wings out and started to fling her self around...startling the both of us. Before that she wasn't moving, her wings and head where hanging. but after her flipping around a flinging blood all over the place she finally died while we held her still. she died very quickly. Before I found her she was running around acting normal just laid an egg. No problems. After she died we tried to decide on what to do with her..b/c we weren't 100% sure on it she was hit by a car. She had bloody fluid coming out of her mouth and more fluid out her back side.. so we decided to burry her. Now my question is do y'all think she was hit by a car? I thought maybe she ate something that she shouldn't of..but I have looked all around and found nothing that she could have gotten into. WE keep everything put up b/c we worry about their safety. We have put alot of time and care and money into them and want the best for them. Its a little tough losing my 1st chicken in may they will be a year old. So what do you think...car or? People FLY down this country road...just a couple of month ago we had a 20 year old man flip his car 6 times and land in our yard..and die in the life flight..its a bad road..mst people take it easy and drive by slow..I think they laugh at our setup..and the chicken running around. but we have the few jerks that fly down the road.