Another One Done Gone

I was saddened when I found a dead hen in the coop Thursday morning. It was one of the Wayendottes. She was dead in a corner. I removed her and the other chickens voiced their concern.

I studied her corpse in detail. There was no blood and no signs of predation. Her comb looked good and her feathers looked good as well. She seemed perfectly healthy during the previous evening when I locked the flock in for the night.

I look at every hen every day. When I lock them in their yard in the evenings I count them. There is Blue, four Reds, four Buffs, four Barred Rocks, four Black Stars and now only two Wyandottes. I watch how they walk, how they eat, how they respond to me and to one another. A sick chicken would stand out.

I suppose it was just a case of sudden death, but I’m looking at the other chickens for signs of sickness. They all seem just fine.

Our chickens were all hatched last year on August 4th. This is the second Wyandotte we’ve lost this year. The first was stepped on by my horse. I do realize that we will need to add new chickens to the flock since our hens will become less productive as they age. But maybe I could get used to having five or six chickens instead of twenty.