Sudden death of clocking bantam

[IrishChick]

Hi all

Just joined your forum and hope you dont mind me asking some advice. We have kept a flock of 6 hens and 1 cockerel for the past 9 months. One hen is a bantam and in the past few days she began to sit on some eggs. Yesterday morning I discovered her dead in their run. It would have been her second day sitting on the eggs - the previous day she only left them to eat in the evening time. We are suspicious of the cockerel as in the past couple of weeks he has become more agressive following a visit from my two year old nephew and niece. Would he have been confused by her refusal to come out from the eggs and tried to force her to do so? Apologies for the silly questions but it has left us baffled!!!

Many thanks in advance
Audrey

 

[kcjones]

I would think there would be signs of an attack if the cockerel forced her to get off the eggs,but is only my second year with chickens, just guessing.

 

[Den in Penn]

Much more likely she had some other problem, which she was sitting in the nest to try to recover from. If the cockerel hasn't shown signs of being aggressive towards the hen before he's very unlikely to have pulled her off the nest and killed her. But individuals have different personalities

 

[raymondjames]

well first

it could be lice or mites. when a hen goes broody, they can die because they are vulnerable and lice and mites can kill them.

cockerel, of course is a suspect. it probably wasnt lice/mites if the body was mauled.