Unknown Cause of Death

[ChickenIsBob]

Hey, I've had chickens for a couple of years now, I had a one year old Welsummer hen called Leah, she seemed fine and normal, she was really friendly and would eat off my hand and follow me around the garden.
Unfortunately she died this afternoon and I have no clue why, I want to make sure it wasn't a disease or infection that could spread to the others in the brood. She seemed healthy and was eating and drinking, she wasn't walking weirdly at all and didn't look as if she was in any pain or discomfort.
She was hand raised by me so I can say that she hadn't started to lay but I didn't know whether she would or supposed to start to lay. I noticed when she was dead that her area around her anus did have blood around it as well.

Can anyone please tell me the cause of death? And if its a disease/ infection how I can cure the other chickens?

Thank you for reading and if you have any information please do say.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC and sorry about your hen. Since she was a year old, and had never started to lay, that could point to some internal laying problem. With finding her vent bloody, it could point to different scenarios. One is that she may have been egg bound, and could have suffered a prolapsed vent. A prolapse is when the internal red tissue comes outside, and this may attract pecking from the other chickens. One can have egg binding or a prolapsed vent separately or together. The second scenario is that she may have been pecked or cannibalized by the other chickens or another animal. Third, is that she may have been bleeding from something internally such as cancer or a bloody egg. Some intestinal infections such as cocci and enteritis can cause blood on the vent as well. Without a necropsy it is tough to know for sure what may have killed her. You can do one at home, or have one performed by your state vet or poultry lab. feeling of her breastbone for weight loss, looking her over for parasites, and checking her crop in case of impacted or sour crop may give clues. There are many links on how to do a necropsy on a chicken, and here are some links about sending a refrigerated body to a poultry lab:
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/799747/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures

 

[ChickenIsBob]

Thank you so much, that's a great help, also good news that it wasn't a disease or infection. I just want to ask that could this possibly be caused by rat poisoning? My neighbors sometimes puts it down along our fence.