Chicken suddenly started losing weight, then died. All others are thriving. Any thoughts?

[SLOChick]

Hi all, I recently sold three eight-week-old chickens to a local person and they called me to tell me that one was not thriving, and the next day she died. They have had her for almost 4 weeks. The other two that I sold them are doing great. Any thoughts on why one chicken (at 11 weeks old) would suddenly just start losing weight and die when everybody else is doing well?

 

[azygous]

Lots of reasons for chick deaths, some congenital, others isolated disorders, others are accidental.

When an eight-week old chick suddenly loses weight and dies, unless it was a "runt" upon hatch, likely succumbed to an environmental hazard -heat stress, poisonous insects, toxic plants, Insecticides. At first glance, the environmental hazard may not be at all apparent.

I had a chick in this age group pick up contaminated grit from under a leaking log splitter and die in front of me, but it took me three days and overcoming denial to discover the cause.

Another three chicks of mine in that age group died a horrible, painful death from trying to peck at a Buck-moth caterpillar, at that time something I'd never seen under my pines before.

One of the most common causes of death in eight-week old chicks is impacted crop and constipation due to inadequate grit. Since many of these causes of death can affect other chickens in the flock, it's critical to find out why that chick died.

 

[SLOChick]

Lots of reasons for chick deaths, some congenital, others isolated disorders, others are accidental.

When an eight-week old chick suddenly loses weight and dies, unless it was a "runt" upon hatch, likely succumbed to an environmental hazard -heat stress, poisonous insects, toxic plants, Insecticides. At first glance, the environmental hazard may not be at all apparent.

I had a chick in this age group pick up contaminated grit from under a leaking log splitter and die in front of me, but it took me three days and overcoming denial to discover the cause.

Another three chicks of mine in that age group died a horrible, painful death from trying to peck at a Buck-moth caterpillar, at that time something I'd never seen under my pines before.

One of the most common causes of death in eight-week old chicks is impacted crop and constipation due to inadequate grit. Since many of these causes of death can affect other chickens in the flock, it's critical to find out why that chick died.

 

[SLOChick]

That sounds about right - I figured it had to be something that she got into that the other chickens didn't.