Mysterious Death :(

[apmomma]

This afternoon I discovered one of our Easter Eggers dead in the middle of the run...she felt cold, as if she'd been there awhile.... this came as a total shock. She was about 7months or so old and had shown no signs of illness and had been laying an egg a day. There were no signs of obvious injury either. My question, could the rooster possibly have fatally injured her while mating?? The location is consistent to where he typically tries to mate with the hens..it's the only possible cause we could come up with. The roo is an aggressive Plymouth Barred Rock who had left a pretty bad bald patch on her rump from mounting.

Any thoughts on our sweet hen's sudden death??

 

[annie3001]

hello.
sorry for your hen loss. its very possible he might have injured her? but killing? i dunno. how is this rooster with your other hens?

 

[apmomma]

I ended up posting on Managing your Flock forum and those that responded there seemed to conclude it was the roo.........others had mentioned Easter Eggers having fragile head/necks and the potential for accidental death by rooster

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Oh I am so sorry for your loss. That is good to know, as I have EEs also. Thank you for sharing your story.