poultryprofessor
Chirping
You are replying to a very old thread, so those individuals are unlikely to respond. However, a couple of bird deaths is not necessarily unusual even in a small flock. Chickens die for all kinds of reasons that you wouldn't know just by looking at them.
I necropsy almost every bird that dies on the university farm that I run. In the past year, I've had over 200 birds on the farm over the course of the year and we've had about 9 chickens die. After a basic necropsy, 1 died from a crop impaction, 2 died from gizzard impactions, 1 died from a large intestine impaction, and 1 died from a reproductive tract growth (not an egg). All of these presented similarly from the outside - they were thinner than they should be, but otherwise appeared normal. Three cockerels died in fights with other cockerels (same age/size as themselves) - no prior warning, but the cause was pretty easy to see even before opening them up. Only two were unexplained deaths after necropsy - both bantam cockerels with nothing particularly remarkable to note. Just found them dead.
Long story short, chickens die and the causes aren't always apparent from just looking at them. I wouldn't beat yourself up about losing two in the year. If you do have specific questions about your set up, feel free to ask.
