chicken died suddenly

[shazza07]

My silkie hen suddenly died the other day, she was fine in the morning and then when i got home after being out a few hours found her in the corner of her coop gasping and her head was wobbling from side to side, my chooks get lay mash + vitamins in water + vegetables and free range a few times a week on the lawn no chemicals used, she had not yet started laying. ten minutes after finding her she was dead, any ideas would help so as to prevent my other hens suffering the same fate.

thanks

 

[NorthTexaschick]

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your pullet. Did you check her over thoroughly for injuries? I've had some of mine die mysterious deaths, too. There are several diseases causing gasping /labored breathing but I'm not sure about the sudden death.

 

[shazza07]

yeah checked her all over for injuries, maybe couldve been a spider bite? there has been an increase in redback spiders around my area.

 

[BlazeJester]

The great thing about having chickens is that they usually EAT spiders (including the poisonous ones), but if you have redbacks I guess that could be a possibility if the chicken didn't notice it. I would probably rank it as highly unlikely, though, as feathers are quite dense and despite a full-on infestation of black widows in my yard, I have not lost one to them yet.