My hen died after chicks hatched

bchick11

Hatching
Jun 7, 2018
2
2
4
...and the chicks died too.

I have/had a bantam chicken that was sitting on and successfully hatched 7 eggs. Last night, the chicks were hatching and mom and chicks seemed perfectly healthy and normal. This morning, they were all dead. I'm assuming the chicks died after the hen did, but have no idea why she would suddenly die. Has anyone had this happen?

There were no marks or injuries on her, the coop hadn't been disturbed and each chick is fully accounted for. She was in a separate section of the coop alone. I'm at a total loss as to what happened. She has abandoned eggs in the past and I've successfully hatched healthy chicks from her in the incubator. This was the first time that she's actually sat on the eggs through to hatch.

I'm fairly new to owning chickens (these were left by the previous owners of the house we bought a few months ago) and I'm trying to learn as much as possible in a short amount of time.
 
Have you looked her over for parasites?
There are lots of things that can kill a chicken quickly.
The chicks could have died because they chilled or they were infected by something that killed the hen.
Best course of action is to send her to your state poultry lab for a necropsy. That's the only way to know what happened and how to move forward.
If you call, they may send you a FedEx label to send the bird there.
What state are you located in?
 
I live in California. I checked her over this morning, as well as the chicks and found nothing abnormal or out of the ordinary on them. I assume the chicks died because they got too cold after the hen died.

I have seven other hens and four roosters. All seem perfectly normal this morning.
 
You're in luck. Necropsies are cheap or free in CA.
There are other labs but this will get you started.
You need to keep the bird refrigerated.


California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory


University of California, School of Veterinary Med

620 West Health Science Drive

Davis, California 95616

Phone: 530-752-8709

ASF, CSF, FMD, IAV-A, IAV-
 
The chicks should not died for no reason specially when more than more than one died in same time.I do not believe they die for of any disease because some of them should fight disease more than others.
some reasons that I guess may kill many chicks at same time.
1- snake,scorpion and spiders stings.
2- predators specially dogs.
3- toxic food or water.
4- freezing.
5-starvation of food or water.
 
that is so sad! It would be interesting to know what happened by sending her off, probably the only way you’ll get an answer. I hope the rest of your flock remains healthy.
 

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