Chicken just dropped dead!!??

[cassiedavis]

So weird, but my year old hen dropped dead the other day. The only thing I can think is it was pecking the feathers out of our new silkie and must of had a blockage in her insides?? I never found feathers on the groud so she must have been eating them. Does this seem possible?

 

[emys]

Hens do eat feathers and generally it doesn't kill them.

I'm sorry your hen died, but it's more likely something else caused the death, such as eating something poisonous (could have even been a bee?) Or sometimes they just have genetic heart or liver problems.

I had a one year old hen die like that - never did figure it out, not a mark on her that I could find, just dead under her favorite bush, the other hens weren't even alarmed by her just lying there, they were all lying around under the same bushes.

 

[Lil'ChickFarm]

Quote:
They probably don't understand death and thought she went to sleep.

I am sorry about your loss.

 

[Bleenie]

I had this happen with one of my year olds not long ago, I soon discovered there was a Cocci infection going through the flock. I lost her and a chick but thankfully i caught it fast enough that everyone else is still here and doing great now. My hen showed NO signs of the infection, I just found her dead on the coop floor one morning.