what happened?

[hewlette]

our little black chicken was fine yesterday, and dead today. I noticed she had a poopy tail maybe as long as a week ago, but she was eating and acting normal. I cleaned her up and she seemed fine. today she didnt leave the roost with the other chickens and her poopy tail looked cakey again, so I gave her a warm bath and cleaned her up. one side of her underpart was so swollen. she wasnt eating or doing well, couldnt hardly stand. so i made her a bed of new straw and she closed her eyes. while i was on the phone with a vet she died. can anyone tell me what happened? I had her since October and I think she was maybe a year old. as far as I know, she never laid an egg ever. we only had the 2 little bantams and neither of them have been laying. her sister did, but stopped when the egg she was setting on hatched. she had 4 eggs of her own but they werent fertile. she hatched a golden comet she thinks is hers.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

sorry for your hen.


Sounds like she might have been egg bound.


Your other hen, with chick, will/should start to lay after she starts to break her bond with the chick - could be as soon as 3 weeks, could be much longer. Mine broodies usually start back when their chicks are 6 to 10 weeks old.

 

[MotherJean]

So sorry you lost your hen. If you've never known her to lay an egg, her condition is called "internal laying." You can find quite a number of very informative posts on BYC by typing "internal layer" or "internal laying" in the search box above and to the right on this page.

Wish we could've said hello under better circumstances.