Healthy Hen found dead

[VAfarmgirl9]

Hello everyone, happy Sunday morning. We have a flock of 18 (1 rooster) and this morning we found one of our healthy Orphingtons (age 1 1/2) had died sometime in the night. She was laying in the nest box. They are closed up in their coop at dusk and safe from predators. There were no visible injuries. I am trying to come up with a plausible reason this happened. Any thoughts?

 

[Grandma The Chicken]

Has she ever laid eggs before and if she has, was there anything odd about the eggs? Perhaps her eggs might have a link to her death.

 

[LaFleche]

Did you inspect her for poultry mites? Mites suck the chickens' blood and cause anemia or even death.

What kind of poisonous critters do you have in your area?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Was she in the nest box last evening? Had she started molting yet? Your state vet lab can perform a necropsy on her on Monday, if you keep her body cold inside a cooler on ice, and wrapped in 2 garbage bags. Don’t freeze. If you cannot afford that you might want to open her abdomen and take pictures of her major organs to post here for opinions. Here is List of the state vets to contact:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Here is a good necropsy video with the organs labeled in case you do your own simple necropsy at home:

 

[VAfarmgirl9]

Has she ever laid eggs before and if she has, was there anything odd about the eggs? Perhaps her eggs might have a link to her death.

I know she's been laying eggs but not sure which ones are hers as there are 16 hens total. Thanks

 

[nuthatched]

What was her diet?