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

[CastleCoop]

Foxes, we have lost more to them than any other cause.

 

[fluffy07]

It makes me feel so bad that I've NEVER had a chicken die of old age. It was always a dang opossum or raccoon or bird. One almost did, she was 4, but she got taken by a hawk. In our backyard. I cried.

*I don't know if it was a hawk or an eagle*

PLEASE DON'T FEEL BAD. We do what we can to keep them safe. Remember, a lot of the rare breeds would not exist at all, unless for our care. Human beings are constantly trashed for wrecking the world, but, in my experience, humans are trying their utmost to save things. Everybody puts up nesting boxes, everybody feeds hedgehogs, everybody grows evergreens and berrying plants to feed the birds in winter. Nature works as it does. We are helping.

 

[marleyfisher6]

The fact that just about everything eats poultry, that predators fall from the sky, come creeping out from behind every bush, and wag their gleeful tails while moments later wreaking carnage on beloved hens is a tough reality for most poultry keepers. However death sometimes also occurs as a result of our own mistakes or oversight while some may also process their backyard flock for food purposes.

Whatever the cause, in this poll, we'd like to find out: What Are The Top Causes of Death in Your Backyard Flock?

Feel free to choose multiple answers and please elaborate in the comment section if you choose "Other".

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Further reading:

• Coping With Death In Your Flock: 4 Actionable Steps
• A Checklist to Avoiding Casualties in the Flock
• Hens Passing Away Due to Old Age: What to Expect
• Do Poultry Mourn Over The Loss Of A Flock Mate?

(Check out more Official BYC Polls HERE!)

Most of mine drown in our pond

 

[CastleCoop]

We have had two chicks die of gnats. They were in their "ugly stage" and we had them outside in a run to get used to being outside. The gnats got into their nostrils and suffocated and killed them. Now we check our young chickens nostrils every day in the summer.

 

[Earthdale]

No option for becoming dinner?

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

No option for becoming dinner?

 

[Earthdale]

I have no idea how I missed that!

 

[member 544621]

I have had chickens for 5 yrs now.
The most common reason for death is because the chicken is dispatched and processed. But the reason for dispatch is because the bird is a roo or hen that has slowed way down in egg production.

Have not grown birds specifically for meat.

Early one I lost 4-5 chicks to a black snake. Otherwise have never had a predator issue - no coons digging into the pen, no foxes, no hawks. I am sure it will happen, just hasn't happened yet.

 

[user651618]

Foxes and hawks, followed by the UPS truck.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I’ll add that in 2023, Marek’s burned through my flock and wiped out most 2023 chicks and several adults. I culled all adults that showed symptoms. I then bred the birds that never showed symptoms (and in a few instances allowed mildly symptomatic birds to breed non-symptomatic birds before I culled the symptomatic birds). Now I’m having near 100% survival rates after the first few days of life. I started 2024 with about 2 dozen chickens left. Now I’m somewhere around 115-125.

So in 2023, disease was my biggest killer either directly or indirectly through me culling sick birds.