Chicken died suddenly

[RunChixRun]

Hi everybody,

I have 7 hens. All appear very healthy and happy. I went out to the coop yesterday morning around 7am and one was in the run dead. She must have just died because she was still warm and limp. I dont think I was out at the coop the previous day so maybe the last time I was out there was 36 hours previous. Maybe 48 hours. My question is what would do this?

Like I said she looked great. She was the alpha hen. Strong and not scared of anything. She molted and had all new feathers. Egg production is hard to comment on. They are just now starting to lay eggs. They are eating the same food they always have. Nothing changed in the coop. I DO have a rat (Im guessing) that has infultrated the run. I have a skirt of welded wire that surrounds everything and can not figure out how its getting in. I put the food up high so it cant get the food until I figure out how to get rid of it. Some nights I forget.

Thats all I can think of to tell you.

Any advice would be great.

Thank you

JB
Fairfield County, CT

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Contact your state lab, arrange for a necropsy. Refrigerate, do not freeze, your girl (gallon baggie or 2 gallon baggie works best.
You don't have your location listed in your profile, or I'd have linked your state lab's conact info

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. The only way to know what might have been wrong is to have your state vet do a necropsy. I would recommend checking on the chickens more often if possible, just in case something happened to food or water. I have found chickens stuck in freak accidents, and managed to save them. If a professional necropsy is not, some of us do home necropsies to look at organs. If you do one, take pictures of the major organs and post them here for opinions. Here is a list of state labs:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html