I had an Buff Orpington. For the first year she had a great personality. Then she became broody. I broke her of that twice. Around the same time the brooding started, she didn't regain her feathers on her neck after molting. She also had a bare bottom. I thought she was fine because she was laying and behaving fairly normal although she never completely got back to her sweet personallity she used to have. Then a month ago, I found her dead in the coop. I was really surprised because I had been watching her pretty closely. She had this really cute response when I'd pick her up and pet her. She'd open and close her eyes and make cute gurgling-like sounds. I had just picked her up 2 days before she went off and died and she seemed fine. After she died, I checked her to see if she was egg bound but didn't really know how to tell. It just baffles me. Anyway, what do you think of this sudden death? I keep questioning myself if I could have prevented it or was missing something. I do become a little attached to these birds, especially my Buff. She was the sweetest. She was always the first out of the coop and last in the coop - very spirited and sweet.
that is what happened to my barred rock hen I just thought she was stressed over something but i dont no
I'm sorry about your loss. I love my buff orpingtons, too. It is often hard to tell what caused a death. But it doesn't hurt to look carefully for any parasites which can be tough to detect unless you know what to look for. Here is a link for mites: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-mites.html
Sudden death could mean heart faliure (I lost my Amerucana to it. It ran in her family) Broodiness can develope in orpingtons, but I don't know of it being a symtom of a disease. Now, feather loss is a different story, your chicken could have been sick. It's very sad you lost her, I cryed my eyes out when Nina (the amerucana above) died. Make sure you wash the coop so other chickens don't get sick (if that was what killed her. We don't know...).
