Ugh ... lost all 4 chickens last night

[bannockburnokie]

We have/had 4 chickens - Australorp, Buff Orpington, Plymouth Rock, and a Wyandotte - each was 14 months old. All seemed totally fine yesterday and all laid eggs yesterday. We left town yesterday and the neighbor said they seemed fine as they went into the coop last night. When she came by this morning they were all lying in the shavings and not moving and not breathing. The coop appeared to be secure. While it was warm, the coop is well ventilated and clean. We started using a new bag of food the day before we left. Any ideas on why this may have happened? I feel so terrible that our neighbor discovered this.

 

[Aapomp831]

I would investigate the new bag of food!! Sounds highly suspicious.

 

[Cayuga momma]

That is terrible, I'm so sorry for your loss.
Is it possible the new bag of food could be old. I would check for mold or a funky smell. You could get a necropsy done to find out what caused this.

 

[rebrascora]

My thoughts would be.... the neighbours forgot to let them out and they overheated..... Is there water in the coop? Is it in full sun in the morning?
The neighbour forgot to close them in and a predator got them.... something small like a stoat/weasel can get through small holes in the run.
They would not all die so quickly with a bag of feed being iffy and you would likely smell it if it was off. There is more to this story than meets the eye and I think your neighbour may not be telling you the whole truth. When will you be back? Will it be in time to inspect the carcasses or send them for necropsy or will they be disposed of by then?

 

[KikiLeigh02]

I was thinking the same thing @rebrascora. Did your neighbor say if there were any external injuries?

 

[bannockburnokie]

It sounds like they may all have laid multiple eggs in their last day. My husband said there was 2-3 eggs on Thursday late afternoon/early evening, 5 eggs midday Friday, and our neighbor found 4 more this morning. They are usually midday layers so there being eggs early in the morning would be very unusual. Also she found two hens in the nesting box. She also said they seemed very heavy. I’m not sure what to make of this.

 

[bannockburnokie]

I hear what you’re saying. The neighbor said there was no obvious indication of injury. They first stopped by at dusk to lock the coop and the chickens were still in the run. They went back and closed the pop door at 11:30 p.m. I’m waiting to hear from my husband on what time they were let out this morning. My husband will be back on Monday and will take a closer look.

 

[bannockburnokie]

The egg production was much higher than normal. We typically average 3 eggs a day and they tend to late morning to early afternoon. It’s really weird that there would be 13 eggs in about 30 hours. While the nest box is big enough for two, we had never seen two in it at the same time. They always made an indent and laid their eggs in one spot.

 

[rebrascora]

It sounds like they may all have laid multiple eggs in their last day. My husband said there was 2-3 eggs on Thursday late afternoon/early evening, 5 eggs midday Friday, and our neighbor found 4 more this morning. They are usually midday layers so there being eggs early in the morning would be very unusual. Also she found two hens in the nesting box. She also said they seemed very heavy. I’m not sure what to make of this.

None of this makes any sense. Either you are reading more into things than people are telling you or you are mixing up information or you are clutching at straws to find the answer. The chance of more than one hen laying more than 1 egg in the same 24 hrs with a flock of just 4 is unlikely. The chance of that being a cause of death of all of them, which you seem to be suggesting, is beyond comprehension.

For them all to die at once in such a short period of time, this was either an environmental factor like them overheating, a predator or a fast acting poison.

 

[lazy gardener]

The fact that there were more eggs than usual is a huge red flag. I'm suggesting that the neighbor forgot to open up the coop that day. Exactly what time did the neighbor call you to tell you that the birds were dead?