Two dead hens in one week

[DVChickens]

This is my first post here. I did try to do some research but there are so many possibilities for the issues I am experiencing and it might not be what I’d thought.

I had six hens. All around 9 months old. I have a leghorn who has been laying since before winter began. She was the only hen to lay. I figured with the shorter days and cooler weather the other’s missed their chance this year and would start laying when it warmed up.

I went on vacation and a neighbor was looking after them. The neighbor purchased some layer feed from a local pet food store. To my surprise, I noticed another egg from another hen other than the leghorn. I believe she was an Americuana (sp?) but not sure. About half the egg was covered in dried blood but I chalked it up to be the hen’s first egg. A couple days later I noticed the hen was sitting in the same spot I found the previous egg. (Under the hen house) I left for about 20 minutes thinking she was laying an egg. I came back and to my surprise, I found her dead. There was a cracked egg on the ramp leading up to the hen house but she wasn’t more than 2 inches from where I last saw her.

Her backside had some blood and really looked as if she wasn’t having a great time when she passed. I figured she was egg bound based on my research after the fact.

Yesterday, 5 days later, I noticed one of my buff orphington’s sitting in one of the laying boxes. I thought, great, she is going to lay. I came back an hour later and found her sitting in the same spot underneath the hen house as my previous chicken. She didn’t move and I knew something was wrong. I picked her up which she would never let me do and I set her down to watch her walk. She couldn’t take more than a few steps without falling. I figured, great, another egg bound hen. Thinking maybe it has something to do with the food my neighbor bought? I soaked her in the sink with epsom salt, gave her some crushed up Tums (don’t think she ate any) and placed her in a dog kennel I have. Woke up the morning and she was dead. Probably had been dead most of the night.

Do you think this could be a simple layer feed that has caused them to be egg bound because of a lack of calcium? Could it be something else? Should I worry about the rest? I haven’t vaccinated them with anything. I was told by the store when I got them to mix some DE with their food for worms but they wouldn’t need to be vaccinated. Some of their stool is runny but a majority isn’t from what I can tell. I don’t want to lose any more hens, obviously, but I’m just not experienced enough to have any insight.

The second hen that passed didn’t have any blood. I could just tell something wasn’t right by how she was acting. I did see her pulsate when I lifted her rear feather but I don’t know if they always do that? Or just when they are attempting to lay an egg.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Wezdin]

Sorry to hear, did your hens have a penguin stance when they died?(tail down to the ground)
What kind of food have you been giving them? I'm thinking that something's up if it took them 9 months to lay. The pulse was most likley her trying to lay an egg.

 

[DVChickens]

Sorry to hear, did your hens have a penguin stance when they died?(tail down to the ground)
What kind of food have you been giving them? I'm thinking that something's up if it took them 9 months to lay. The pulse was most likley her trying to lay an egg.

For the brief time she did stand after I picked the second one up, I did notice her legs were spread apart further than normal.

I was feeding them the layer feed from Tractor Supply Co. That is why I am a little surprised about a possible deficiency in their diet because it was my understanding the industrial foods contained all they needed. They do get treats, meal worms. Veggies, watermelon, etc.. but their main diet is the store bought food.

I was also a little skeptical about being egg bound because from what I’ve read, it is pretty rare. That would mean I’ve had two egg bound hens in two weeks.

 

[Wezdin]

At this point it's just speculation, if you stil l have a dead body you could send it in for a necropsy to tell for sure.

 

[Acre4Me]

I’m sorry to hear you lost 2 hens.

Never experienced egg bound hens, so I can’t help there. However, I’ve had pullets take nearly a year to lay before. It can happen if they don’t reach egg stage before light starts to decrease.

feed: if that feed was the problem, my guess is that more hens would be dying. However, they could have been exposed to some other thing that made them ill including eating something toxic like a plant or small animal.

I’ve had a hen just keel over and die (on her first hatchday), and no reason at all for the death, looked like she died mid-step. I had two (of three) of one breed from same hatch/same source develop fast growing tumors, for no reason, but no one else developed any problems. Sometimes unexpected things occur, but 2 in a week is concerning.

Hopefully you can get done more answers.