Could 90 degree heat alone have killed her?

[JPHens]

My healthy 16 month old Easter Egger hen died this afternoon pretty suddenly. Yesterday it was maybe 88 degrees and she was fairly sluggish, hanging out in the shade, drinking kind of a lot. I noticed that after she laid an egg she sort of stood over it for a while in the nest box, until I nudged her along. Today it got up to 90. She wasn't eating or drinking, moving too slowly to get the berries I tossed in for her (the others got them all) and not even seeming interested. I held her and poured some cool water over her. She kept going away from the water and food I was leaving for her and just sat under the bush in the shade. I had to leave and three hours later, she was still in the shade, dead. I am guessing something else was wrong and the heat exacerbated it, but I wonder if I could have prevented her death. I came out to feed them around 11 am today, and noticed the water was shallow and warm (someone else fed them this morning!) . Wondering if being more on top of keeping her cool might have helped her and if there's anything anyone thinks may have gone on. Thanks!

 

[Whigru]

I kind of think it may have been something else than just heat? I’m only saying that because it’s been well into the 90s here in MN the last week (and has gotten that way every summer) and none of my birds have had issues with the heat. I mean, you can tell they are hot because they spend more time sitting in the shade, but they are not lethargic or against eating. Now, that said, I guess when we raised meat birds when I was young, we would have some just keel over from (what I assumed was) being overheated, but I also thought that was a result of a mix of things (being crowded, being hot, being a big flock of birds where some are inevitably going to die...)?

 

[rosemarythyme]

90 degrees alone shouldn't have killed her. My guess is there was something else going on, and that plus the temperature and her lack of hydration in said heat did her in.

 

[Oncoming Storm]

I kind of think it may have been something else than just heat? I’m only saying that because it’s been well into the 90s here in MN the last week (and has gotten that way every summer) and none of my birds have had issues with the heat. I mean, you can tell they are hot because they spend more time sitting in the shade, but they are not lethargic or against eating. Now, that said, I guess when we raised meat birds when I was young, we would have some just keel over from (what I assumed was) being overheated, but I also thought that was a result of a mix of things (being crowded, being hot, being a big flock of birds where some are inevitably going to die...)?

Meat birds aren’t very heat hardy in my experience. I had one stroke out last summer and die in the span of fifteen seconds. The hen may have been feeling ill and the heat maybe made her feel worse? Like when your stomach hurts and then you go out in the heat and you get worse? But this is quite strange...