hen died

phelo

Can anyone help and give me some advice
Totally new to looking after hens.

We found one of our Sussex hens in a ball in the chicken run. Not sure how long she was there. She is approx 20 weeks old.
Her legs were shaking and eyes kept closing.

looks like she was dying of fright??. She may have been caught up in the chicken wire, or one of the other hens may have fought with here.

Is this a common incident ot happen. We brought the hen to a vet but she was put down.

many thnaks

trish

hi phelo im sorry to hear of your gal i dont know much about this topic but just wanted to say sorry posting.php?mode=reply&f=9&t=549#

ammcg

What did the vet say? Or was he not a poultry vet? I'm afraid I don't know either what it could have been. Sad though it is, chickens do occasionally just die. If the other hens (or anything else) had attacked her, there would have been signs surely. Is the fencing electric? It may have given her a good shock if she was caught in it for any time, but if she just hit it, it wouldn;t have damaged her. Did you notice if her comb was any different in colour (hard to tell at that age I suppose, it wouldn't be very big).

phelo

thanks for the reply, she may have been caught in the wire all night i'm not sure. Vet said she died of shock, when i found her she was shaking and fairly stiff although still alive!

ammcg

Well, if it was electric fencing, and she was caught for any length of time, then that would have killed her. Likewise, even if it wasn't, if she was caught in the fence and couldn't get free all night, the shock and fright of being out and trapped in the dark all night could have done it. Poor little thing. Lesson learned though - head count by flashlight at bed-time!