Dead chicken

[sophieethompson]

My Buff Orpington unexpectedly died this morning. We found her sprawled out on the ground face-down in the rain with no wounds. Her eyes were closed and she looked peaceful. I have no idea what happened. Could she have had a disease? If she does have a disease should I be worried for my other chickens? Please help me figure this out.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about losing your hen. You could check a few things out, such as feel her crop for an impacted crop, and put on a disposable glove to feel inside her vent for a hard stuck egg (normally it would feel soft.) Sometimes they can get could outside in the rain overnight, such as one I had that got locked out of the coop one night. You could also do a necropsy to look inside her abdomen, open the crop and gizzard, look at the intestines for worms, note the color of her liver, and abdominal organs for internal laying. Many times chickens can just die of natural causes. If you would want to refrigerate her body, it would be possible for you to send her in to the state vet for a thorough necropsy to look for a cause of death. Here are some links to read:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/livestock-biosecurity/chicken-necropsy-guide

 

[sophieethompson]

Sorry about losing your hen. You could check a few things out, such as feel her crop for an impacted crop, and put on a disposable glove to feel inside her vent for a hard stuck egg (normally it would feel soft.) Sometimes they can get could outside in the rain overnight, such as one I had that got locked out of the coop one night. You could also do a necropsy to look inside her abdomen, open the crop and gizzard, look at the intestines for worms, note the color of her liver, and abdominal organs for internal laying. Many times chickens can just die of natural causes. If you would want to refrigerate her body, it would be possible for you to send her in to the state vet for a thorough necropsy to look for a cause of death. Here are some links to read:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/livestock-biosecurity/chicken-necropsy-guide

It's weird because she was showing no signs of distress and when I let her out in the morning she seemed normal. I'm wondering if it could be mites or chickens sudden death syndrome.

 

[Eggcessive]

You could check your other hens for mites, especially at night with a flashlight. There is no such thing as sudden death syndrome in my opinion. Every death has a reason--heart or other organ failure, or some disease or parasite. Necropsies are inconvenient, gross, and most of us would rather not do it to a chicken we see every day. I have done only a couple due to either a obvious problem or because it happened during a blizzard or whatever, but you can refrigerate the body until the next day when you have more time. It really enlightened me when I found a blocked gizzard on necropsy with my first dead hen.