Official BYC Poll: What Are The Top Causes of Death in Your Backyard Flock?

[BoogieWight]

1. Predators are definitely at the top since I completely free range. I very rarely lose any adult birds to them, but inattentive hens will occasionally lose some to the neighborhood birds of prey. I lose even more out of incubator hatch groups since they tend to not be as alert when they first start getting around. Foxes and coons don't do very much anymore. I usually trap most of the nosy foxes when they have kits in the den. Daddy fox tends to turn into a pelt, while mommy fox is usually too scared to come back if I let her go. Coons are plentiful and delicious.
2. Parasites may get one every now and then. I bought some Guinea Fowl from an auction dirt cheap and lost one to lice and mites. It was a little too late when we got them, because one poor fella was already weak and stunted (never even fully feathered out). He got pushed out of the group by the other male. He became the only inside bird we ever had (spent his nights in a 50 gallon aquarium), until he just up and stopped eating about 7 months later. We sometimes lose birds purchased from elsewhere due to coccidiosis. We have only lost 2 bred on my place to it in the last 3 years. The rabbits however are still a work in progress.
3. We have lost some roosters due to fights, but this number is way lower than what most would believe with my setup. Only one has died from prolonged injury from a fight in a very long time. Most fights end before they get out of hand. Some have been killed on the spot or died after a knockout, but this does not occur much at all. This is something that is going to happen when you free range as many birds as we have.
4. Processing is on the top of the charts, as this and old age is how a chicken should go. Chickens can live a long time, and I would love to say all my hens die from old age. Though I am glad to say that most of the ladies still have a lot of time left.
5. There are always outliers that die from random (I can't think of a better word right now) occurrences like heart attack, being egg bound, etc.

 

[Shaycres]

I started my flock two years ago and have only lost two chickens and two ducks.
BamBam the duck died while I was away at college, my family said she was having trouble walking. Not even a year old.
Annie the Ancona hen died from an unknown illness, just shy of her first birthday.
Mable the duck drowned while I went away for a week, just barely a year old.
Constance the Cuckoo Marans had a freak accident where she hung herself. A few months into a year old.

I like to think having a noisy gander, four roos, and a border collie who is always nearby helps to keep predators at bay. Not to mention the coops are inside of corn cribs that get locked at night. So thankful to not have lost anything to predation, despite having full free range access all day.

 

[PoultryPrince]

Thankfully, where I am currently living there aren't a heap lot of predators, just a number of coyotes that have never been able to hope the fence-line (knock on wood). Most of what's killed my flock is disease or that sudden death that seems to happen out of the blue. Alive and fine one day, the next looking really lethargic and pale and then dead by evening.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I don't loose many bird that I don't butcher soooo..........................I guess processing?

 

[feather13]

Predators, by a long shot. The neighbors dogs killed 11 this year, I lost two this week to some predator, and 1 other to an unknown predator when we first moved to this house with our first flock. I’ve only lost 2 or 3 to other causes.

Your neighbor's dogs killed 11 of your chickens this year!?!? Have they started keeping their dogs inside? We had a neighbor's husky kill three of our hens a few years ago and I called the ASPCA to pick up the dog because it was also growling at me and my kids. I told the neighbor (he lives several streets away) I'd kill his dog if I ever found it in my yard again. I don't get upset at anyone but myself when a wild animal attacks our chickens, but domesticated animals are a different matter.

We've had chickens killed by raccoons and opossums, but the big killer has been Marek's.

 

[FreckledEggs]

My previous answer was with my chickens, but this answer is with my quail. Lots of them went one morning, when you lost one button, you tend to lose the other one. I think the older quail could have been a cause. It was my first time mixing quail flocks and thought it was like chickens I suppose. I very much regret my decisions. I love those birds so, so much. Rest forever Puddle, Griselda, Peculiar Moon Twig, Leghorn, Tiger, Silvia, Pancake and Panda

 

[Willow2253]

Your neighbor's dogs killed 11 of your chickens this year!?!? Have they started keeping their dogs inside? We had a neighbor's husky kill three of our hens a few years ago and I called the ASPCA to pick up the dog because it was also growling at me and my kids. I told the neighbor (he lives several streets away) I'd kill his dog if I ever found it in my yard again. I don't get upset at anyone but myself when a wild animal attacks our chickens, but domesticated animals are a different matter.

We free range and had 20 at the time. We were gone for maybe an hour and a half and came home to carnage and the two dogs were still there. There’s no animal control here because we’re way out in the country but we did file a police report for them being on our property and a lawsuit for the damages. The dogs came from like 4 miles away over a mountain. The owners are aware that if we ever see the dogs again they’re dead. It was devastating though, I lost my rooster that I had gotten like 3 months earlier(and had driven 600 miles to get!), over half of my original flock, the only offspring we’d gotten out of those hens, and half of my pullets that were just coming into laying age.

 

[NickyPick]

Back when I lived in suburbia, I lost at least 10-15 hens a year to various predators (dogs, coons, hawks, foxes, etc). Since I moved out to the country, with a National Forest out the back fence, I've only lost older hens to unknown causes. It's kinda weird.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Other: Humans

 

[NWChix]

In 16 years of raising chickens, I've only lost two to predators. We have plenty of predators including eagles and coyotes, so my birds only get to free range if supervised.