chicken with pale comb died...what to look for?

[ambrosegirl84]

Hi, I posted a while back about a chicken with a pale comb. I got some helpful advice on anemia and was feeding her protein rich foodds. Last night when I went out I was pleased to see that her comb looked red once again (it had been improving steadily) and she seemed totally normal.

This morning she was dead on the floor! No sign of injury but her comb was pale, which I suppose is from being dead.

I'm wondering what might have happened. Should I do a post mortem? If so what should I look for? I'm wondering if she might have had a heart attack in her sleep.

 

[Stiggy]

sorry for your loss
what age was she?
and breed?
have you checked for mites? ( the red blood type)
also she may have had internal organ damage due to anemia and other issues

 

[ambrosegirl84]

She was just over a year old. Not sure on the breed, a "mutt" I guess! I had checked her a few times and never found any signs of critter infestation and wormed her this spring.

I ended up not dissecting..just the idea of corpse sitting outside all day + my own morning sickness + the possibility of disease! I hope I can keep my other chickens healthy!

The only other possibility I can think of is that the winter was too hard on her and she didn't recover. I had two heat lamps going all winter, fed them extra corn and meal worms but we had extended periods of time of -20 air temperatures and I'm sure that was hard on them!