5 month old chicken died suddenly (just starting to lay eggs) - what to check on the rest of the flock?

[backyardaustralorps]

We have a flock of ten 5 months old black australorp chickens that have just starting to lay eggs. About half of them have laid their first 1-3 eggs each during this past week.

This morning I woke up to a dead chicken inside the coop. It was lying on the ground below the roost like it had fallen off overnight. This bird had laid one egg before, without a shell (all the other birds’ eggs were small but normal). All of the chickens were previously and still are acting healthily, besides this one. The one that died was not showing any signs of distress or disease that I was aware of, so it was such a sad shock.

I am worried about the rest of the flock in case it wasn’t a random event or something like a stuck egg. I had thought that having a first egg be soft shelled was not atypical? Particularly I am concerned it was something related to their diet or environment. Does anyone have any advice for what I should be checking? Thank you.

 

[HKG]

@NatJ

 

[Sally PB]

If you still have the chicken's body, you could do a necropsy. There are threads about that here, so there is a lot of help for doing that.

Laying a no-shell egg for a first egg is not uncommon, so that may not mean anything.

She may have broken her neck... had a heart attack... had a deformity that wasn't visible.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[backyardaustralorps]

If you still have the chicken's body, you could do a necropsy. There are threads about that here, so there is a lot of help for doing that.

Laying a no-shell egg for a first egg is not uncommon, so that may not mean anything.

She may have broken her neck... had a heart attack... had a deformity that wasn't visible.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Thank you for the reply, it is very much appreciated.

 

[a048146]

I had a chicken die and found she was egg bound, and with a vaselined glove, I checked her vent. The next time I wondered if another had the same problem; I put her in a warm bucket of water in the bathtub to soak a while, she spent the night drying out, and later, she laid her egg, in the dry tub. She went back to the coop after that.
This past winter, I had 9 of 18 chickens die, one by one. Cause unknown. It's awful. It started with shaking the head, but not with all 9. Two were under a year old. The other 9 seem ok, but I'm watching them for signs I may have missed.