Chicken Dropped Dead

[I'M On Island Time]

I have 3 yr old hens. This is the second one that just dropped dead on me. The first one was 2 weeks ago.

This morning I found Helen dead on the coop floor. It looks like she died on the perch and then fell off. The other chickens didn't bother her body, and there were no marks or anything on it.

Is this a disease problem I am looking at? There are no poultry vets around. The only thing I can do is if this happens again is to take the body to get a necropsy about 5 hrs away.

Any advice? The chickens are freerangers, so they might have picked up something poisonous, although 3 yrs on the same island, and I doubt it.

My biggest concern is that they got a disease from the wild fowl they come in contact with. Ducks, geese, birds, etc.

 

[tiffanyh]

Poison is possible, but if they got into something, for the most part, I would think you would see at least one or two sign before death.

I would guess heart probs. Especially if related to the other one that died. Enlarged heart, or heart defects, those type of things make the victim die fairly quickly with little noticeable symptoms prior to death. most diseases will visibly manifest themselves prior to death....URI, lethargy, something...

sorry for your loss!

ETA: or heat....is it very hot where you are right now?

 

[CarriBrown]

Can you call the necropsy place and see if you can mail a body to them if it happens again? If the state does the necropsy they may even send someone out to get it. I'm so sorry you lost your two birds. It's really tough but knowing what happened to them makes me feel a bit better. :aww

 

[spook]

Recently I had to kill a meat bird early (different situation) but she had a few coughs and a wheeze, if I hadn't been paying attention and if she had been more independent she would have died. At the time I culled her, I found a aneurysm.
But where 2 died so close together, perhaps the gobbled down some plant matter or near where a car was parked.
Good luck and so sorry to hear of your loss.

 

[I'M On Island Time]

We thought heat killed the first one, although it isn't that hot (80s and cloudy). She was found dead in the sun in the dust bin.

Are older hens affected more by heat? That is definitely something to consider. I'll put some electrolytes in their water.

The hens aren't related. They came from a hatchery 3 yrs ago.

Of course it has to be the weekend, and they charge more for weekend necropsies. If another one dies, I hope it is during business hours.

I'll scout the yard for plants. I had a lot of weeds pop up lately.

Thanks for your help and support! I new I would find it here! I am a long-time browser, but never posted until now.

 

[speckledhen]

I have had three hatchery hens, two and a half years old, die of internal laying this year, my first losses since getting them as two day old chicks. The high production hens, especially from hatchery stock, like RIRs, seem to be having these hormonal imbalances alot lately. We only knew what it was when we did a layman's necropsy on them all. The first one was found dead suddenly, the next two both lost weight over a two month period while not laying and wasted away more slowly. I have a fourth that I believe is going the same way. Could be a simple ecoli ovarian infection/internal laying that killed your girls or any number of things, like poisoning, etc.

 

[I'M On Island Time]

Speckledhen, that is very interesting. I lost a RIR about 6 mos ago. She seemed to have slowed down considerably before dying, and a predator finally got her because she wasn't fast enough to get away.

The one that died 2 weeks ago was another RIR. The one that I found this morning was a Barred Plymouth Rock.

 

[Bi0sC0mp]

had a 1 yr old hen die the same way she just feel of the roost dead as can be.. never been able to figure that one out..