Alis girls Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Found Jolene my nearly 2 year old dead in WIR their morning. Not a mark on her. She was bouncing around yesterday. The 3 girls live in eglu in run which is built on slabs with fox proof wire advised by Poultry magazine. Something has been trying to dig in but not got in due to slabs. There were a lot of feathers. The 3 girls all got on well . Could she gave been spooked by a fox? Will wait and see if others are ok in case it's something I am missing. As I say not a mark on her. Very upset. OH been cementing up holes which aren't huge so it's a small slim fox if it is a fox. They will be shut in Eglu tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Sorry to read about Jolene I had a chicken that appeared to die after a massive thunderstorm. She was perfectly fine one minute, the most rain I've ever seen in my garden fell and then came one of the loudest claps of thunder. I went to check on them when it was over and she had died and was still warm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 One of my araucana bantams (Barbara) went from fine when I saw her one lunch time - completely normal mental self - to me taking her to the vets where she almost died in the table and was put to sleep after work - in the space of 4 hours. I think if I’d been a few more hours I’d have found her dead. It seemed like she’d had a stroke - she couldn’t walk and at the end couldn’t hold up her head or wings - but the vet said that doesn’t happen to birds. I thought perhaps it was rapid onset mareks but the post mortem suggested not. So I think maybe she flew into the roof of the run and damaged her brain or something. That doesn’t directly answer your question but is another example of a sudden unexplained death. Sorry to hear about Jolene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 I think so. I was washing Pippin's bottom but she was always highly strung. I got the hairdryer out as I didn't want her getting a chill and boom! Keeled over. The monster machine was too much for her. On the other hand none of my other girls had issues with botty washes or the hair dryer. The silkie used to lift up her wings and turn around so that she could be dried nicely. Maybe it's a genetic thing. Sorry to hear about Jolene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkirk25 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 When I first got hens, the dogs were a little baffled and would run after them and sniff. Absolutely no harm and the dogs dter foxes while the hens free range so I ignored it. Second day, a dogs went next to a hen, sniffed her and she fell over and died. It might have been a co-incidence but I do think that hens die of fright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Yep, they can take fright and die quite easily, my grandad used to say that they have 'weak hearts'. As for Araucanas, they are just totally nuts... I have 2 pure breed araucana bantams and 2 hybrids araucana/leghorn, all totally bonkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
