Chicken Dropped Dead

[MotherHen75]

We just went in an all out search for one of my girls. She was under the car, dead. No blood, no nothing. No inbound eggs or worms. She was a year old, she hatched four chicks at 7 months. She was a good mama. We checked her corpse, nothing in her throat, her abdomen was slightly warm but her wattle and comb were cold. She was covered in ants though. Please i need to know what it was. A simple heart attack? A complicated disease? She was a buff orpington. The other hens were across the property not even fazed.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that you lost your hen. Can you refrigerate her body in a couple of clean garbage bags, and contact your state vet first thing in the morning, to ask about getting a necropsy done? That would be the best way to find a cause. It could be almost anything from a crop disorder, reproductive disorder, heart or an internal organ problem. Right now with summer heat, dehydration and heatstroke are common. Did you see any droppings nearby, and were they unusual? Did her vent look clean or have any droppings or maggots on it? Was she heavy or underweight, or was her crop empty or full of food? Many times their crops will empty out onto the ground when they die. Here is a list of state vets:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[Aunt Angus]

That is so sad... I'm very sorry...


A necropsy is likely the only way you'll learn what happened.

 

[MotherHen75]

Sorry that you lost your hen. Can you refrigerate her body in a couple of clean garbage bags, and contact your state vet first thing in the morning, to ask about getting a necropsy done? That would be the best way to find a cause. It could be almost anything from a crop disorder, reproductive disorder, heart or an internal organ problem. Right now with summer heat, dehydration and heatstroke are common. Did you see any droppings nearby, and were they unusual? Did her vent look clean or have any droppings or maggots on it? Was she heavy or underweight, or was her crop empty or full of food? Many times their crops will empty out onto the ground when they die. Here is a list of state vets:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

Ugh. We just finished burying herNo dropping nearby that i could see. Vent was clean. She had plenty of water and food, she was a healthy weight.

 

[Eggcessive]

Clemson has a poultry lab. But it sounds like it was too late. I have lost a couple of chickens at her age. I usually do my own simple necropsy to look at abdominal organs for anything obvious. We frequently post pictures here of what we see and ask for opinions. Heart failure or liver disease can be two common causes of sudden death. Sorry.

 

[Icantraisechickenshelp]

Under the car? Maybe the gas accidentally leaked on her and she got poisoned?

 

[MotherHen75]

Under the car? Maybe the gas accidentally leaked on her and she got poisoned?

I highly doubt it. We didn’t see anything and it is a new car.

 

[CindyinSD]

I lost a Buff Orpington when she was around 8 months old. Same kind of thing. She was dead and stiff on the floor of the coop when I went out to check on them in the morning. No sign of trauma, no warning. Just dead. It’s unsettling, but sometimes these things happen. As others have said, if it’s important to you to know what happened, there’s always the possibility of a necropsy (but of course only if she’s still above ground, on ice.) You’d want to know more, I think, if you were worried about a contagious disease. I’m guessing this is more likely some internal problem unique to the little hen that died.

You’re gonna lose one now and again and while it’s sad, it’s part of life. Don’t kick yourself over this. It’s not your fault.

 

[MotherHen75]

I lost a Buff Orpington when she was around 8 months old. Same kind of thing. She was dead and stiff on the floor of the coop when I went out to check on them in the morning. No sign of trauma, no warning. Just dead. It’s unsettling, but sometimes these things happen. As others have said, if it’s important to you to know what happened, there’s always the possibility of a necropsy (but of course only if she’s still above ground, on ice.) You’d want to know more, I think, if you were worried about a contagious disease. I’m guessing this is more likely some internal problem unique to the little hen that died.

You’re gonna lose one now and again and while it’s sad, it’s part of life. Don’t kick yourself over this. It’s not your fault.

Thank you, i know, this is the fourth we’ve lost but the first kind like this. Two were cockerels my rooster killed and the third was a dog. It’s never expected though.

 

[kissezmychicken]

I just lost a silkie like that yesterday.. Nothing i could see was wrong.. Heathy weight and normal that day.. Just died overnight.. She looked like she died in her sleep even. Chickens do that.. Very frustrating.