Three dead hens in a month

[trudydhaugan]

After years of relatively healthy birds and a safe coop and run, we have recently had three hens between 1-3 years old die unexpectedly several weeks apart. We do have a ton of brown and black widow spiders at this time of year as well as rats/mice and possibly snakes that can access the hens. There have been no signs of respiratory issues or mites - does anyone have any ideas what might be causing these deaths and how to avoid any more? I'm down to 4 hens and am afraid to get more before I find out the cause...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

After years of relatively healthy birds and a safe coop and run, we have recently had three hens between 1-3 years old die unexpectedly several weeks apart. We do have a ton of brown and black widow spiders at this time of year as well as rats/mice and possibly snakes that can access the hens. There have been no signs of respiratory issues or mites - does anyone have any ideas what might be causing these deaths and how to avoid any more? I'm down to 4 hens and am afraid to get more before I find out the cause...

I'm sorry for your loss

Do you still have a body that you can send to your state lab for necropsy? It's very hard to know the cause of death unless there's some type of further investigation. If sending one in is not possible, you can perform an informal one yourself to see if there's anything obvious. Take photos and post them, we will try to help you with what you see.

You don't have your location in your profile, so if you need help finding your lab, let us know what state you are in.