Came home to find one of my hens had died

[daniefon]

She was fine yesterday, I sat with them for awhile and everyone looked normal. I checked her over and can't find any marks, blood, broken bones, etc. her eyes were closed. I checked for discharge in all of the normal places. Everyone else seems fine. She was 8 months old and a nice heavy bird, a silver Wyandotte. I'm very sad, she was a pet and named after my mother. My fear is that others will die too with no signs of trouble. Can anyone give me some ideas of what could've happened? Btw, our weather is mild, in the 70s, no rain and she was in a very well ventilated coop.

 

[ChicKat]

daniefon,

Sorry that your hen died. Unfortunately, there are a lot of diseases that chickens can get. I hope that you don't loose any other chickens.

Here is a link to a page being built that talks about Marek's disease. Marek's will kill chickens and there is nothing that the chicken owner can do (known presently to science) that will save the chicken. There is no way to know with such little information what killed your chicken...but at 8-months it probably wasn't 'old age'. Also, I'm not saying that Marek's was your chicken's cause of death....I'm sending the link because it has some information on how you can have a Necropsy done on a dead chicken. Some states have low cost options, some have astronomical costs.

Especially with no symptoms, I think that would be the only sure way to find an answer to what the caused the death.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/mareks-disease-fact-site

Toward the bottom of the page are links and information that people have contributed and gathered about how to get a Necropsy done.

sad that it is under these circumstances, but welcome to the byc forum. I hope that the rest of your flock will 'live long and prosper'.