If you free range it could have been a hawk attack,
she got away and sheltered in the coop,
where she may have been assaulted by another of your birds and/or just died.
 
In a 2 year old hen, loss of patches of feathers overnight can be quite normal from moulting. Were her feathers in the coop? Were they underneath the roost or scattered about everywhere like there had been a scuffle. If the cockerel is just coming into his hormones his behaviour may just suddenly change. First thing in the morning and late in the afternoon are the prime time for them to want to mate. Because she has given him a hard time growing up, he may have decided to exert his dominance over her and tried to forcibly mate her and perhaps she has resisted, particularly if she is coming into moult.... her feathers would easily become dislodged and leave bare patches and his beak and claws could easily break her skin as she tried to avoid him. The combination of her struggling and his weight may have killed her, we will never know.
Personally I would house the rooster separate until his first flush of hormones are over.... which may mean until next summer. The other girls will also be moulting soon, if they have not already started and the last thing they need to contend with is a huge, randy, adolescent cockerel attempting to mate them when they are growing their new feathers.

Just my opinion.
 
Agree! I recently put cockerel who was being overly 'randy' and aggressive to both pullets and hens, into the freezer. He was NOT subtle! If you are out there watching your flock, especially mornings going outside, and evenings, and you aren't seeing him be too stupid, I wouldn't blame him first.
Something bad happened, and it's really sad, so check everything out. The coop needs to be secure, and do you have any hens/pullets that are just too pushy? So sorry!
Mary
 
So sorry to hear of your loss. I haven't lost one of my girls yet but been enjoying them too, so the thought is rough. Yet I understand that it is all a part of chickens. I can see why not everyone names them
 
I know this is an older post but was curious if you ever found out if your roo or another animal attacked your hen? Your situation sounded similar to mine. When my roo was smaller one of my hens, who was the flock mean girl, was mean to him would purposely go out of her way to bite him and he would eventually avoid her and run away from her when he was her coming. Well later he got older and when his hormone kicked in, it was obvious when they did, she tried to step up and intimidate him and this time he didn't run and he attacked her. She immediately knew she was not going to win or scare him. After that he wouldn't let her near the girls and would chase her away. So I had to separate them. One day somehow the coop door opened when we were out for a while, and we got back I found her in the yard in a corner beat up. All her head feathers were ripped out and her head was a bloody pulp. Her eyes were so swollen she couldn't open them. He didn't kill her, I'm sure if we were out longer he may have. But he messed her up. He wasn't like that to my other girls at all, he was the best to the others. But because she was a bully to him and the other girls, he hated her.

I was told about how no one had incidents of roosters attacking hens that usually it was the other way around. But not my situation. I was just curious if you kept the roo or if you had no other incidents.
 

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