I need to think about what was going on this morning before I discovered our dead chicken. Before I left the house I could hear my dog Count barking. I thought to myself, “what is he barking at already this morning?” As I headed toward the stairs to the basement, I looked out the window to see if I could see anything out on the south side of the property that may have the dogs in a huff. I didn’t see anything at that time, so I continued to the basement where I filled my dogs bowls with food. I came back up the stairs to the kitchen and added a bit of water to each bowl. At that point Lewis, my husband wanted to add some scraps to the dog bowls so he did that and following , I was off to feed the dogs.
I left the house toward the dog run and I looked again to see what the dogs had been barking at. There it was, our neighbors cat crossing the road going east back toward his home leaving our property. I thought nothing of it because the cat is always out and about creeping around our property, particularly in the evenings about dusk.
I continued toward the dog run, and by this time the hens heard me leave the house and were all gathered at the gate waiting on me to come out with their morning treat. I left the two dog bowls full of food for Count and Basie and headed back into the house to retrieve the plastic bowl full of dried oats, I had prepared earlier for the chickens.
Well, I headed back out the door toward the chicken coop and began to enter through the gate. Many mornings, I usually count heads making sure we didn’t lose a chicken overnight our during the previous day. This morning I did not count the chickens. They were so excited for me to come out with treats I could hardly get through the gate. One of the youngest hens could not wait any longer and began peeking a my shoes as if to say, “hurry up, where is my treat?”. So I immediately started to scattering the oats on the ground some distance away from me so I could get the hen hoard to move out of the gate entrance.
As the hens and rooster began eating the oats it made a way for me walk freely towards the coop. I entered the coop, gathered five eggs, threw some fresh straw about and filled the feeding troughs. The eggs I gathered I left in the coop while I went out to check the water level in the water tank.
Oh my! There lifeless on the ground she lay. I looked about to see what, or who could have done this. I asked the girls what had gone on this morning? Of course they did not have any response. In fact they continued eating the oats I had thrown on the ground following me about seemingly asking for more. Her body lay there with no visible signs of trauma. I felt the body and around the neck the body was still warm. Whatever happened had to have been within a few hours after they left the coop. The coop door opens at 5:30 am. I believe I found her about 7 am.
This particular girl was part of our new flock, the nine chicks I got at the “Big R” earlier this summer. She was one of the larger birds of the group.
The two groups of chickens had been together for over a month. There has been a few squabbles but nothing serious enough to draw blood or death. In addition the body had no signs of trauma; no blood, cuts etc. There has not been any signs of sickness in any of my girls either. What could have caused this TRAGEDY?
