Chicken found dead on her side in nesting box, what happened?

[Chicalinga]

Our chicken Speckle laid an egg in the nesting box then went about playing in the fenced coop area. After checking on her, we found her on her side on the nesting box again, dead. She was about three years old. We were thinking she might’ve died of a heart attack. Perhaps she didn’t feel good and went back up to the nesting box. We have no clue! The kids are devastated. Anybody ever have an experience like this before?

 

[Sally PB]

Was her comb a purplish color, by chance? That could indicate circulatory issues, like a heart attack.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

I think one of mine had a heat stroke or something as she was lethargic and her comb was purple but some electrolytes brought her back some. But she is loosing weight and always has her wings open. Its been hot here.

Im so sorry about your chicken.

 

[azygous]

Finding a hen dead in a nest box almost always is caused by heart failure due to sudden death syndrome. It's caused by usually two eggs back to back putting extreme demands on her to produce enough calcium for two eggs. This can rob the calcium in her blood to meet this demand and there is therefore none left to supply the needs of her heart for calcium to keep it beating. The hen dies of a heart attack.

 

[azygous]

Usually a hen will have a habit of laying two eggs in a cycle before the death. Catching this problem early can prevent death by treating her with a calcium supplement to regulate her cycle. Have you suspected this hen of laying two eggs in one day previous to this unfortunate event?

 

[The Welch Chickens]

Our chicken Speckle laid an egg in the nesting box then went about playing in the fenced coop area. After checking on her, we found her on her side on the nesting box again, dead. She was about three years old. We were thinking she might’ve died of a heart attack. Perhaps she didn’t feel good and went back up to the nesting box. We have no clue! The kids are devastated. Anybody ever have an experience like this before?

Oh no! So sorry for you loss

 

[Chicalinga]

Was her comb a purplish color, by chance? That could indicate circulatory issues, like a heart attack.

It was a hair darker than the other girls. With her dark, gray and black feathers like a spackle, we didn’t notice it as much, it could’ve very well been Circulatory. Thank you for your input.

 

[Chicalinga]

Usually a hen will have a habit of laying two eggs in a cycle before the death. Catching this problem early can prevent death by treating her with a calcium supplement to regulate her cycle. Have you suspected this hen of laying two eggs in one day previous to this unfortunate event?

Thank you for your response. We never noticed her laying two eggs in one day. However, I noticed that one other chicken has a very soft shell, and I believe Speckle s shell was also on the soft side recently.

 

[Chicalinga]

Thank you for your input. I do believe it probably was a heart attack.

 

[tnctx]

Our chicken Speckle laid an egg in the nesting box then went about playing in the fenced coop area. After checking on her, we found her on her side on the nesting box again, dead. She was about three years old. We were thinking she might’ve died of a heart attack. Perhaps she didn’t feel good and went back up to the nesting box. We have no clue! The kids are devastated. Anybody ever have an experience like this before?