Buff Orpington died suddenly

[5 ENGLISH HENS]

My Buff Orpington was a year old. Last weekend my husband let the chickens out of their run in the morning. It was a beautiful day; all of the chickens seemed fine. I saw them at 2:00 in the afternoon. We had to go out at 4:30; so we went to put all the chickens back in the run. One of my chickens was sitting by herself and would not come to me. I went and picked her up and put her in the run. She stood up for a minute with her tail tucked under; and laid back down. I decided to let her rest and check on her when we came home. When we came home she was dead.

All of my other hens seem to be healthy. I never had soft eggs so I don't think it was egg binding. I don't know if she may have ate something she shouldn't have in the yard. Has anyone ever had an unexplained chicken death.

 

[calvincoop]

You may want to consider doing a post mortem exam on her. see if anything internally looks out of the ordinary.

 

[5 ENGLISH HENS]

My husband buried the chicken right away; so it is too late for an exam. But it would have been a good idea.

 

[feathers_3]

Sorry to hear about your hen. I hate when these kind of things happen. But, If you chicken was buried today or yesterday, you should be able to dig her back up and examine her if you want to just to make sure it wasn't a disease. It very well could have been a bound egg. I have never had a "soft" egg either and I have a hen right now who is egg bound and she very well may die from it because I can't get it out.

 

[5 ENGLISH HENS]

Sorry to hear about your egg bound hen. I talked to a couple vets after my hen died. One said if it was egg binding I could try crushing up a tums and giving it to her. The calcium helps them pass the egg. So maybe you could try that. They also said that keeping her warm helps.
I feel awful about my hen. This is my first year of owning chickens. I did not think she would die so quickly. I do feel guilty that I did not even try to help her. My first thought was to let her rest a bit and see how she feels a little later.

 

[feathers_3]

It's hard watching your "baby" be sick like that and not know what to do for her. But as long as it was not a disease your flock should be okay. That's would be one of my biggest worries, but she could have had some strange tumor or something like that and nothing could have been done for her. I wouldn't worry too much though, as long as the rest are okay. Good luck to you with the rest of your chickens!!!

And my hen is better today, but still no egg.

 

[calvincoop]

Sorry to hear about your egg bound hen.  I talked to a couple vets after my hen died.  One said if it was egg binding I could try crushing up a tums and giving it to her.  The calcium helps them pass the egg.  So maybe you could try that.  They also said that keeping her warm helps.
I feel awful about my hen.  This is my first year of owning chickens.  I did not think she would die so quickly.  I do feel guilty that I did not even try to help her.  My first thought was to let her rest a bit and see how she feels a little later.  

So sorry about your baby. I love my buff orpington so much I would be so upset if I lost her. It could have possibly been egg yolk peritonitis. one thing you need to remember about having chickens is that they will hide the fact that they are sick almost until its too late. that's way I automatically start worrying as soon as I notice something is a little off.

 

[BrendaLea]

I know this is an old thread..but I had to comment. Sorry about your Buffy!! This morning I went out to let our chickens out and one of our Buff Orpingtons was face down, sprawled out with her feet behind her and head curled up, dead...She was pacing the fence the other day making her "gotta lay an egg" sounds...so I just told her to go lay her egg..not thinking anything of it..I have noticed we weren't getting as many eggs in the past two days..so maybe she also had an egg stuck..poor thing...