S.H.D. Syndrome

[dadthebaker]

I can't tell you how many hours I would spend just watching my healthy boys during their infancy; just watching to see if they are breathing. Sure it was less and less time when we got to our third, but now I am dealing with Suden Hen Death Syndrome.

I find Wife and Me regularly checking to see if our hens are ok. Just caught wife tapping on the window. Seems one of the hens was lying in the dirt bane very still....

Maybe if we had thirty or forty chickens, it would be less of a trauma...but with only five....

I guess with time it will get better...

 

[leesbunny]

Yes, some chickens will just die, for no known reason. How old are they? Yes for the most part, it does get better as they get older. But there is always things like predators that can take them at any age. Every time I go near the shed, the first thing I do is take a head count.

 

[dadthebaker]

My girls are 7, going on 8 months old. Wife and I have a running comment since finding our fav, what we thought healthy hen, dead. After greeting each other we ask, "are the chickies still alive?"

Even before the loss, I would do automatic head count of six....now it seems weird to do a head count of five...


We are in a pretty urban setting and the only predator I see as eminent is opposum. But the girls are locked tight at night.