Odd ball chickens

[chicken fam]

My goodness, I've had my first chicken fatality. Got home from work last night and one of my chickens was laying dead in their enclosed yard. She wasn't attacked as she was fully intact. Do I need to worry about my other hens? I wonder if this is a transmittable disease? Danger, I didn't realize chickens would be so stressful

she probable died while being egg-bound (when the egg gets stuck) this hapened to me yesterday (RIP Easter my love) that's all I can help you with unless this happens to a lot more in a small time span I would not worry, it is neither common nor uncommon for this to happen. So I would not worry this is the most I can help you. Although if it was really cold she might have frozen to death.

 

[Kris10fromKS]

she probable died while being egg-bound (when the egg gets stuck) this hapened to me yesterday (RIP Easter my love) that's all I can help you with unless this happens to a lot more in a small time span I would not worry, it is neither common nor uncommon for this to happen. So I would not worry this is the most I can help you. Although if it was really cold she might have frozen to death.

It wasn't too cold yesterday. My hens haven't laid eggs in some time now, a couple of weeks probably but they appear to be molting.

 

[chicken fam]

It wasn't too cold yesterday. My hens haven't laid eggs in some time now, a couple of weeks probably but they appear to be molting.

thats all that I can help you with.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do I need to worry about my other hens?

If you deal with living animals sometimes you have to deal with dead animals. It's the same with a dog, cat, or other pet, not just chickens. Sometimes you just don't know why. It does not necessarily mean you did something wrong either. That doesn't make it easier.

If she had no marks on her it wasn't a predator and it wasn't the other chickens that killed her. If she was acting normal it almost certainly wasn't a disease. Not acting normal generally means standing around all fluffed up and hunched up, not moving around and not eating or drinking. Diseases and parasites generally don't act that fast.

You can come up with different possibilities but a sudden death of a healthy chicken usually means she had a stroke or heart attack or maybe a freak accident. Maybe banged into something when flying or startled by another chicken (maybe in a pecking order skirmish) and broke her neck. Not a whole lot you can do about that.

As long as the others are acting normal I'd treat it as a freak accident. But I'd call your county extension office and ask them what does it take to get a chicken necropsy. That's where an expert cuts the chicken up to try to determine what killed it. Each state is different in procedures and costs. Generally they want the carcass refrigerated or kept on ice but not frozen. If it happens again you'll know what your options are to get her checked out.

 

[claudiabostic]

Probably an accident. Just keep an eye on the others to see if they are acting normally. As far as egg binding goes, lack of calcium is the usual cause. Do your hens have oyster shell to eat and are they actually eating it? I find mine eat more of it if I scatter it on the ground.

 

[Harpersm]

I am newer to raising hens and when I received my 7 month old hens, they did not roost but rather huddled together in a nesting box. Since I only had five, it was easy for me to clean the mess and I did not try to change their behavior. I recently purchased a larger hen house with two roosting bars and I have noticed on warmer nights they do roost instead of huddle. As for letting them free range, they will probably be happier but be prepared to lose a hen or two due to predators. We just lost one to a hawk, and it was tough but every chicken owner I know reminded me that if they free range, more than likely that will happen from time to time.