Why did my Pekin hen die?

[Nashvillecarrie]

I had a flock of 13 pure Pekins- 3 drakes and 9 hens. So a 3-1 ratio. I realize it could be better; but thought we were doing ok. Please note that 5 of those hens were just added 2 months or so ago when I could tell the original hens were getting worn down. Tonight I go out to put food and water in their house and shut the door, and thought it was odd they weren’t going in. Typically they go up on their own and I just have to shut the door. I walked around the edge of the pond, clapping my hands, hoping they’d run away from me and into the house. That’s when I noticed one of my hens floating dead in the water on the edge. Sigh. We removed her and put her way back in the woods so as not to attract bad predators to our pond. I’m a little distraught. We then had to work to shepherd the remaining 12 into the house, which finally worked. Question is, what killed my hen? I’m guessing I just need more hens??? 13 (now 12) ducks is already a lot of poop to clean up every morning!!!!! I love these ducks and they are part of the family; but thought 3-1 was ok!!! I have noticed this past week that one hen, probably the one we lost, was looking extra raggedy. And sometimes two drakes will literally double team a hen almost drowning her; maybe it finally happened?? Why wasn’t 3-1 good enough?! This seems crazy to me. FYI there were no lacerations on the hen I pulled froM the water; so I don’t think it was a predator. Was it illness, should I be looking for any signs in the others?? Or go pick up a few more hens tomorrow??

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC and so sorry for your loss. The only way to know for sure what killed your hen is to have a necropsy done. Let me know where you live and I will try to find a lab near you.

 

[casportpony]

Silly me, you username is Nashvillecarrie, does that mean your're in TN? If so, I think necropsies are free in TN.
https://vetmed.tennessee.edu/vmc/dls/Pages/default.aspx

 

[Nashvillecarrie]

Thanks and I appreciate the advice. We’ve already placed the body way out in the woods at this point; though I’ll keep this in mind if we lose any others.

 

[house.of.ducks]

Welcome to BYC!

Is there any way she could have become egg bound? It can kill hens and my hen that frequently gets egg bound can’t even move when it’s happening. And if she were egg binding and in the water and a drake tried to mate with her she could have easily drowned, or she could have just died from egg binding. Of course the idea that the drakes over mated with her is a likely cause she could have also eaten something bad (ex. a toxic plant, a piece of plastic/metal, etc.). Or maybe she died of an internal parasite or an underlying illness. No matter what happened I’m sure it wasn’t your fault and I’m very sorry for your loss

 

[Conan]

I'm sorry - that really sucks. It's pretty lame to lose a bird like that. My guess (if there were no wounds on her) is that she either had something going on or the males drowned her. I currently have a group of 11 hens and 2 drakes and I am considering culling a male because of how awful they are this time of year. My two turds have a tendency to gang "rape" if you will and it is not fun to see. I do know that in the future I will never have more than one male.

 

[chickens really]

Hello..She was drowned by the Drakes..They gang up on one Hen and all want to breed her..You have two too many Drakes..