Sigh... I'd like to think everyone has this day and that no one has been without casualties along the line.
One of my hens (my smaller buff one) was dead in the coop moments ago. When I went out and turned on the light this morning at 5:30 am, she was in her usual spot in the rafters, standing up and looking down at me like she usually did every morning. I noticed last night she was fluffed up, but thought it was because of the temperature drop we had yesterday. She had seemed a little slower than usual the day everyone was out in the yard, like she wasn't interested in going outside, but I thought, again, she was cold. I'm not very bright.
Between 5:30 and 9am, it appears as though she evacuated her bowls from her perch where I saw her this morning and then either fell or jumped down. The rest of the birds were as far away from her as they could get in their coop and her body was still warm (and it's -15 out right now). I know this can just happen, and that she came from a rough life before I got her (and probably somewhat rough even though I had her), but I'm a little worried as to the health of my others. They all seem alert and once I picked her up they started to move around again. There's 3 eggs already this morning, which is more than usual at this time... They have lots of food and water, I wormed them a few weeks ago and they've been dusted for mites. I'll be re-dusting soon.
I'm going to give her carcass to the outdoor cats -- I don't believe in letting it go to waste and they're wild barn cats as is -- the roo has already put a run on the most curious ones and they aren't out without supervision so I'm not worried that I'll teach the cats anything.
Any advice or thoughts? Anything I should look for on the body? Going out to clean up the mess out there from her droppings and disinfect it.
Blegh... I hate seeing anything dead, especially under my care. Loss number 2 for the farm.
One of my hens (my smaller buff one) was dead in the coop moments ago. When I went out and turned on the light this morning at 5:30 am, she was in her usual spot in the rafters, standing up and looking down at me like she usually did every morning. I noticed last night she was fluffed up, but thought it was because of the temperature drop we had yesterday. She had seemed a little slower than usual the day everyone was out in the yard, like she wasn't interested in going outside, but I thought, again, she was cold. I'm not very bright.
Between 5:30 and 9am, it appears as though she evacuated her bowls from her perch where I saw her this morning and then either fell or jumped down. The rest of the birds were as far away from her as they could get in their coop and her body was still warm (and it's -15 out right now). I know this can just happen, and that she came from a rough life before I got her (and probably somewhat rough even though I had her), but I'm a little worried as to the health of my others. They all seem alert and once I picked her up they started to move around again. There's 3 eggs already this morning, which is more than usual at this time... They have lots of food and water, I wormed them a few weeks ago and they've been dusted for mites. I'll be re-dusting soon.
I'm going to give her carcass to the outdoor cats -- I don't believe in letting it go to waste and they're wild barn cats as is -- the roo has already put a run on the most curious ones and they aren't out without supervision so I'm not worried that I'll teach the cats anything.
Any advice or thoughts? Anything I should look for on the body? Going out to clean up the mess out there from her droppings and disinfect it.
Blegh... I hate seeing anything dead, especially under my care. Loss number 2 for the farm.
