Lost my First -What Did I do Wrong?

[WA_RN]

One of my favorite 10 month old buff orpingtons named Dixie was found dead on Sunday on the ground in their enclosed locked run near their run roosting bar. We locked all 6 in on Friday morning, and left town for the weekend, and she wasn't displaying any signs of illness. I determined by looking at the inside coop cams that she must have died sometime Friday afternoon because she didn't go into the coop in the evening and all of them always do. Since we didn't find her until Sunday evening I didn't send her out for necropsy as I wasn't confident if she was chilled adequately all weekend and would even get to the lab in time. I looked her over externally and saw nothing out of the ordinary other than her vent was quite red. I felt for an egg but couldn't feel one.

I know there was probably nothing I could have done to prevent it but I still feel terrible like I did something wrong.

 

[casportpony]

So sorry for your loss. You could try doing your own necropsy, that's what I would do.

Edited to correct spelling.

 

[thanai]

So sorry for your loss. You could try doing your own macro pay, that's what I would do.

necropsy? or did you mean something else..... Sorry for your loss!

 

[21hens-incharge]

So sorry for your loss.

Sometimes they do just drop dead. I have lost a few at around that age. One was egg bound. One had a heart attack (saw that one go as she was running around the yard). One was from an unknown cause.

What I would do at this point is watch everyone else for signs of being "off" and research home necropsy. If you do a home investigation into a death be sure to photo the organs as many knowledgeable people on here can help spot abnormal issues.

 

[B-Goock]

I doubt you did anything wrong if you provide them good food, clean water, and a decent coop.
Was Dixie smaller? Did she isolate herself from the flock any? It could be she had a genetic defect. Was she laying? Anything abnormal about her eggs?

I think your doing the best thing to try to figure out "what could have been done" it may prevent losses in the future.

 

[CourtsworthFarms]

I'm guessing it was a sickness or a disease. Do you have any rat infestations? Did you forget to change their water for a couple of days?

 

[casportpony]

necropsy? or did you mean something else..... Sorry for your loss!

Yes, I meant necropsy. Still training the autocorrect on this tablet.

 

[vantain]

I also had a 10 month old Buff Orpington die recently. I found her on the floor of the coop one morning. She was acting normally the day before, and had even laid an egg. I guess it just happens sometimes.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are the others healthy? Then it is unlikely you did anything wrong.

When you deal with living animals you sometimes have to deal with dead animals. That's as true with dogs, fish, or horses as it is with chickens. It is a good idea to try to determine what happened but sometimes it's just not possible.

It sounds like you did not observe her acting sick on camera which sort of implies it was pretty quick. Not likely a disease. In addition to other possible quick deaths I'll add accident. I think one of mine died about that age when she panicked, probably trying to get away from an amorous rooster or losing a pecking order skirmish and flew into a fence. Broke her neck.

 

[WA_RN]

I doubt you did anything wrong if you provide them good food, clean water, and a decent coop.
Was Dixie smaller? Did she isolate herself from the flock any? It could be she had a genetic defect. Was she laying? Anything abnormal about her eggs?

I think your doing the best thing to try to figure out "what could have been done" it may prevent losses in the future.

Dixie was the smallest and last to lay but she didn't isolate. We also had 1 of the flock lay some soft shell/balloon looking eggs under the roost 5 days in a row a few months ago but that resolved and we never figured out which one was laying them.

I'm guessing it was a sickness or a disease. Do you have any rat infestations? Did you forget to change their water for a couple of days?

No rats or signs of rats that we have seen. Their coop has an attached run that has a solid roof and has 1/4" hardware cloth screwed in between frames and there is also a buried perimeter skirt covered in rocks. We changed their water and made sure food was full before we left for the weekend.

Are the others healthy? Then it is unlikely you did anything wrong.

When you deal with living animals you sometimes have to deal with dead animals. That's as true with dogs, fish, or horses as it is with chickens. It is a good idea to try to determine what happened but sometimes it's just not possible.

It sounds like you did not observe her acting sick on camera which sort of implies it was pretty quick. Not likely a disease. In addition to other possible quick deaths I'll add accident. I think one of mine died about that age when she panicked, probably trying to get away from an amorous rooster or losing a pecking order skirmish and flew into a fence. Broke her neck.

Yes, the others are healthy. I suppose there's a possibility of a pecking order skirmish happening? They normally get to free range during day hours and it was the first time (since they were really young) that they were locked in for a several days straight together. I think for 6 they do have plenty of room though in our set up to discourage fighting?