[T C]

Hi everyone, i went into the henhouse yesterday afternoon, and one of my lovley brown hens had died, she was only 2 years old, she was still warm and had fresh blood around her bottom, there were drips of blood on the nesting box, a few days ago i found one of the eggs with a lot of blood around the egg and a bit on the floor of the nesting box, can anyone tell me what this could be? also the other hens refused to go into the hen house last night, i had to pick them up and put them on the roosting bar, i have had no eggs today, is this because her death has upset them? i am feeling so fedup, i just wish i had noticed something so i could have helped her. TC

[newhen]

sorry no advice but so sorry you lost your hen. x

[Aunt Sally]

It's one of two things depending on the interpretation of your description.

1. Red mites -   this can cause little blood spots on the eggs and will certainly put hens off of lay ( they don't get upset by death of another hen ).  Red mites will make them very reluctant to go in to the hen house.  Check the hen house very carefully and treat for mites.  Hens can die of anaemia from the slow blood loss.

2. A rupture of the hens vent when laying an egg - This will cause a larger blood loss and can cause death.

[T C]

Hi Aunt Sally, i checked for red mites, we had this last year, and we are clear, i think the latter of your explanatoin may be right, a few days ago the egg was blood smeared, and had the drops of blood around, the day she died the drops of blood were all around the nest box again so i think she was going to lay, i wish i had noticed something wrong before, she was a lovley hen, we are all going to miss her.

[Aunt Sally]

   We can't always notice everything 

[dizzylizzie]

im sorry about the loss of your hen, its sad when these things happen, but you cant notice everything. take care x

[bexy]

Hi TC...soooo very sorry to hear of your sad news.

Think dizzylizzy meant 'you can't notice everything'

[Feeb]

so sorry for your hen loss <hug>

[dizzylizzie]

Hi TC...soooo very sorry to hear of your sad news.

Think dizzylizzy meant 'you can't notice everything'

sorry...yes i did thanks!
taken care of!
i have a silly laptop that misses letters out sorry

[newChickenMummy]

So sorry to hear about the loss of one of your girls 

Liz x