two hens sudden death

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Jun 21, 2016
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the girls were free ranging this morning, back in the coop around 2. did some errands, came back, peeked at them. all up in the nesting box; one laying an egg, the other two dead! they never go up during the day unless threatened. So strange-- two dead, lying up in the roosting area; the other on the nesting box. What on earth could have happened?
 
Welcome to BYC! So sorry for your loss.
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What has the temperature been? If it has been hot they could've died from the heat. Are there any marks on them that could've been from predators? Teeth marks, broken bones, etc? Do you have a lot of predators in your area?

Could the one in the nest box have an impacted egg? How old were they, and what breed? And if you only had three chickens and two died you will need to get at least one more for the last hen or give her away. It isn't good for chickens to be alone.
 
thanks for your reply. it was hot, but has been much hotter in the past. what is so strange is they were in the yard happy as they could be, put them back in the coop, and couple hours later all three were in the upper coop/roost, two dead, one laying her egg. no signs of predators, stress, anything.

we happened to get two chicks 6 weeks ago so that was good luck. will try to introduce them together soon.
 
I lost six duck hens earlier in the month to heat stroke in the duck hut. We left them closed up so we could get some shopping done and came back to a horror scene. We got back before noon and five were already gone, only ~ 76 degrees outside. We only have two ducks and the gander of the birds that were kept in that coop. It sounds like heat death.
 
I'm sorry for your loss! Could be a disease. Some diseases can cause sudden death. Did you notice any symptoms like decreased appetite? Were there a lot of feathers around? If so, could have been a fox attack.
 

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