Dead hen, possible egg eater?

[smudge]

Found one of my 4 year old Buff Orpington hens dead when I opened up the coop this morning, crammed in the corner, opposite side of where she usually roosts. No signs of external wounds. Did notice what looked like egg yolk on her beak, but have found no broken eggs.

I'd picked her up and given her a hug when sending everyone in for the night, and did not see extra yellow on her beak then. (I've been checking, because I found 1 egg broken and another with an obvious beak peck to it last Tuesday. And she had yolk on her beak then. They have 3 acres they range on when I don't have them in the run, so boredom shouldn't be a factor.)

Should I assume she had some internal problem/age related, i.e. natural causes? (Related to egg eating.)
Or is there something I should be keeping an eye out for that could affect the rest of the flock?
My neighbor pointed out poisoning is a possibility.

The girl has always been lean for a BO, and a bit of a loner. She's been acting a bit like she has dementia for the past couple of months, and although she was laying in January, she stopped in February after our cockerel found his voice. And she very much disapproved of the (Buff Brahma) cockerel - they had a couple of arguments that I witnessed, but seemed to be tolerating each other lately, she'd even let him cover her.

Of course it had to be Lily, my daughter's favorite...

So, what should I be doing to ensure that this nothing that will affect thee health of the remaining 10?

 

[Poultry parent]

Egg eating doesn't affect a hen's health. If they do see a broken egg they will eat it. If you didn't see any injuries then you can assume it's natural causes

 

[smudge]

Egg eating doesn't affect a hen's health. If they do see a broken egg they will eat it. If you didn't see any injuries then you can assume it's natural causes

My concern was that the egg eating could be symptomatic of some deficiency due to other problems (internal issues, not absorbing nutrients correctly)?

I just recalled that the back of her legs seemed awfully pink/red last night - odd as usually they only got like that when it was cold. You know how those white legged birds are - any inflammation/irritant stands out.

She was a hard worker for most of her life, giving it all to egg laying. When she was laying, she regularly laid 2.75 oz eggs, even though she was on the small side for a BO. (The medium sized hen harness my daughter bought her was too big.)

 

[Poultry parent]

As far as I know egg eating doesn't mean that there is any kind of deficiency. They'll just eat an egg if one broke