- Mar 27, 2009
- 8
- 1
- 9
I went out to my coop on Saturday morning at ≈9:30a. The 5 of our 3 yr old hens and 13 of our 9 mo old McMurray Hatchery pullets had adequate clean food and water. It had been a relatively warm (+55˚F) night, and there was no sign of any predators. (We've actually never had that problem here.)
One of my Redstar pullets from this year was there, laying on her side in the back of the coop, dead. I retrieved her, she was still warm (no rigor had yet set in), and she had no obvious signs of any struggle or trauma. No lumps, bumps or anything. Cloaca VERY slightly distended, but she's been laying regularly. In fact yesterday she had been just one of the noisy flock, clucking and running around.
Possibilities? I'm just curious, but of course worried if this might be some sort of disease, though every other henny here is quite happy and active. I let them all out to free-range on our acreage after this, where they spent the afternoon running around, pecking and cackling quite happily. I then raked & cleaned up the hen area, cleaned out all the coops, and laid fresh straw sprinkled with some parasite/insect control powder, though there is no indication of that, not even any flies, since I do try to keep it clean.
I also checked her for any mites or parasites, and she was exceedingly clean.
Heart attack? The rigors of the chicken pecking order? (She had no signs of feathers being pulled out or anything like that, even though a couple of my older hens do show some results of internal competition. Common I think.)
No, she seemed to appear very healthy. Just dead. (trickle of a tear in my eye...)
Anyone have any ideas?
One of my Redstar pullets from this year was there, laying on her side in the back of the coop, dead. I retrieved her, she was still warm (no rigor had yet set in), and she had no obvious signs of any struggle or trauma. No lumps, bumps or anything. Cloaca VERY slightly distended, but she's been laying regularly. In fact yesterday she had been just one of the noisy flock, clucking and running around.
Possibilities? I'm just curious, but of course worried if this might be some sort of disease, though every other henny here is quite happy and active. I let them all out to free-range on our acreage after this, where they spent the afternoon running around, pecking and cackling quite happily. I then raked & cleaned up the hen area, cleaned out all the coops, and laid fresh straw sprinkled with some parasite/insect control powder, though there is no indication of that, not even any flies, since I do try to keep it clean.
I also checked her for any mites or parasites, and she was exceedingly clean.
Heart attack? The rigors of the chicken pecking order? (She had no signs of feathers being pulled out or anything like that, even though a couple of my older hens do show some results of internal competition. Common I think.)
No, she seemed to appear very healthy. Just dead. (trickle of a tear in my eye...)
Anyone have any ideas?
