Curious death of a Leghorn

[Jajika]

Hi Everyone:

This is not an emergency as my chicken is already dead, but the way she died is strange.

I have eight chickens and she was a runt of a Leghorn, but lively, running, jumping, dirtbathing etc. She was about three or four years old.

She seemed absolutely fine to me.

I have two coops within a very large fenced in part of my orchard, so there are lots of trees and shrubs. The chickens love to bounce on the shrub branches, hid, peck, etc. The coops are mostly for laying as they like to sleep in the trees. The trees are covered with poultry wire so the entire yard is well protected.

I came out one morning this week and found Kiki, her name, dead in the small coop. She was just laying there, her head was not tucked under her wing, no blood or any signs of trauma.

It's as though she just lay down and died, peacefully in the small coop?

Anyone ever seen anything like this?

 

[Imp]

I've had that happen too. No forewarning, just found her dead.

Also once had one die in the middle of the lawn. Came home from work and she was still sitting upright. Couldn't tell she had died except for the stillness.

Imp

 

[Matt A NC]

Had a few sudden deaths over the years.

Found a Black Australorp just sitting in a nest dead. From the necropsy we learned that she had an aneurysm pop in her brain. She looked normal sitting there. I didn't realize she was dead till I put my hand under her to check for eggs.

Checked the birds and everyone was fine. Went back 20 minutes later and a Wyandotte was laying in the lot. Looked like she just fell forward and stopped. It was really hot that day and she was a hyper girl, so we assumed that was what happened.

Found Jerry under the roost dead this summer. He was a huge standard cochin. His heart had given out.

Opened the layers house one morning to see Notch, black australorp, doing the death flops. She was already gone, but the nerves were still firing. The hens start moving when they hear me coming. Someone had pushed her off the roost. She hit wrong on the way down or on the floor and broke her neck. If I had went to their house first she may not have been pushed off.

Matt

 

[Jajika]

Thanks guys.

Well, at least I know this can happen.

I've had chickens for about ten years now and this is the first "sudden death" I've seen.

Lost a few chickens to disease, predators and one to heat.

Guess I've been lucky so far. They are delicate creatures, so stuff happens.

This info helps. It's true what they say, "Knowledge is Power."

 

[Imp]

In the spirit of Halloween.
A few years ago I had friends that had some kind of songbird die in their peach tree. It's feet clung to the branch. When they found it it had swung upside down, just hung there like a bat. All the feathers had fallen out and it was dehydrated. A little bird mummy in their tree. When the fall rains came it disappeared.

Imp

 

[CMV]

Quote:
I found a small hawk like that about a decade ago, but I found it in winter so it was frozen solid to the branch. Weirdest thing.