B.O. 10 mth old hen died suddenly

[ckfard]

This afternoon I noticed none of my chickens were by the gate so I went to see what they were doing. They had been sitting near one of my big hens who was squatting under a tarp, out of sight. Everyone except her came running when I gave them grapes. I checked her out and she could not stand up. She was leaning to the right and not putting much weight on her left side and it looked like she had less control there. I picked her up and put her in the coop and gave her a good once over. I didn't find anything out of the ordinary other than she was having a hard time breathing. She seemed thirsty so I gave her warm water with a syringe and added a little sugar.
Set up a kennel in the house and took her in. Gave her a little more sugar water and sat with her. She became a little more active for a couple of minutes and then had a terrible seizure and died. She was fine this morning. Her vent was clean when I checked it earlier. When she died, she passed a small amount of thin white poo. Her feathers were fine, her body looked fine. I could find nothing wrong with her other than her breast bone seemed a little pointed. She was breathing with difficulty when I first picked her up and then was starting to breath through her mouth.
I called the vet and they said maybe she had a bacterial infection. The hen house is clean and we just put fresh straw in yesterday. The water is changed out every two days. The feed is fresh and I use only premium grain. They get fruit and veggies when I have some left over. All fresh.
Does anyone have any idea why she died? The other hens seemed fine and were very active when I checked on them this afternoon.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to lose any more of the girls.

 

[MissJames]

I am so sorry!
About a month ago my young rooster died suddenly.He appeared fine and was eating.I left to change the water.When I came back all the others ran to the water and he laid down.I moved him to see if something was wrong and he laid down and put his head down.I brought him inside and within a minute he did the death throw and was gone.He looked great and had been eating fine .Breathing was normal.Still a mystery .
I'm so new I don't know what to advise. Just that I'm very sorry.

 

[beakkeeper]

Seizure?

Hmm, that's not good. The "pointed" breast bone--do you mean she was skinny??? It's possible that it was a bacterial thing, but I doubt it. I'm sorry you had to lose her...

I hope some others will chime in soon!

 

[silkiechicken]

Good luck finding the cause. You can try seeing if you can have an necropsy done, but if the rest of the flock is fine, she probably just died. It is not all that uncommon for hens to just die due to reproductive issues inside, or due to heart attacks in larger breeds. Sorry for your loss.

 

[ckfard]

Perhaps the seizure was just the way chickens die and not really a seizure. It looked like one. I just hope the others are not sick. They have been a joy and a blessing to me. And they bless me with 5-6 eggs every day. Today there were 7. Since this was a big hen, I suspect my egg count is going to be reduced to 4-5 per day. Come spring, I will try to get more little ones. I hope the one that died was not the brooder of the bunch. Two of them were very big and one of them liked sitting on the eggs as often as she could. Thanks for the replys.

 

[silkiechicken]

Best of luck! They flock will figure out their new pecking order in no time. Often it's hard to see what is wrong, and sometimes the skinnier birds lay the best because their energy is going into production vs on them.