[francais]

I have had chickens for about 2 years now. I started (as most novice hen keepers poss do with an e-bay special hen house and 2 hybrid ladies)

12 months ago one of the hybrids went broody so I (again the novice way!) shoved 6 fertile light sussex eggs under her. 5 hatched!!! 2 were boys and left the fold. 3 were girls and lived happily ever after.....until today.

I found one of the light sussex ladies dead in a box (looked like she was just happily sitting on the nest, then passed away) Up until yeasterday she was happily ruinng and playing in the garden with the others.

She looked fine yesterday, but when I looked at the body she had poo aroubd her rear (not there yesterday) but other than that nothing out of the ordinary.

I have washed the coop, cleaned it right through, sprayed it with nest box cleaning spray and made a paste with red mite powder and "painted" it everywhere! changed all the food - the water is on a free flow straight from the tap so water is always fresh

My question is , have I missed anything in the basic cleaning thing?

Obviously if I find any other dead I will look into it on a wider scale, but for now I am just assuming it's one of those things.

Does this sound about right?

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Toni

[bantam novice]

Hello Toni,
I'm so sorry to hear about your hen 
It sounds as if you have done exactly the right thing.  Hens are very good at hiding that they are unwell until it is very serious and sometimes they can die suddenly.  It could have been a heart attack or a stroke.  Good luck with your other girls.

[francais]

Thank you - it good to know I have covered the basics 

[joyfull]

it could be all sorts of things but sadly they can just die