Sad news today. One of our Golden Comet hens died this afternoon. I had been home today and saw all of them up and about as usual in the morning. But just afternoon I looked out and saw one laying on the ground with her legs splayed out, an unusual position that caused me to go investigate.
Upon arrival at the coop I found her laying by herself with her neck bent in a strange way with her eyes closed. Her head and neck feathers were moist. Having heard that chickens can sometimes peck at their fallen sisters and then develop a taste for pecking even live chickens I quickly removed the dead hen from the coop. I grabbed a plastic bag and placed her in it.
When Martha got home we looked the fallen hen over to see if anything would tell us what happened. The only thing we could see was what I described earlier, there were no wounds we could see on her body, no pests, nothing unusual except the crooked neck and moist head and neck.
At this point we are really at a loss as to why she died. They all have been kept together so are eating the same things, sleeping in the same place (literally, they all squeeze into the nesting box at night), and hang out in the same coop. We have not seen them fight with each other or act with hostility towards one another at all either.
Based on some online searches on popular back yard chicken forums it seems there is very little hope of us ever knowing the true cause of death. Hopefully it was something that just effected the lost hen and the rest of our flock will live long and prosperous lives.
Remembering Our Lost Hen
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