Dead chicken

[Esme2345]

I woke up this morning to one of my buff Orpington hens lying dead in the run, she was only young and had only just started laying. She seemed perfectly healthy recently so I’m very shocked and quite upset. She was in one piece and had no visible injuries. I’m curious as to what it could but I know these things happen so I should be be so upset about it. This particular hen is substantially bigger than my other Orpington’s who are a similar age so I was wondering whether maybe it was something to do with that? She was so lovely and I want to get to the bottom of this as I want to make sure my other hens are safe. Any help of advice would be appreciated

 

[britesidefarm]

It would probably be best if you had an autopsy done. I believe they only cost around 20-40 bucks, and are very useful in these situations.

 

[Aapomp831]

Can you provide more details? Like age of hen, a little about your environment, what you feed them, any recent treats....

 

[Aapomp831]

It would probably be best if you had an autopsy done. I believe they only cost around 20-40 bucks, and are very useful in these situations.

Good idea, but autopsy is not for animals... What she’s looking for is a necropsy.

 

[britesidefarm]

Good idea, but autopsy is not for animals... What she’s looking for is a necropsy.

Whoops. That is completely what I meant to type.

 

[Aapomp831]

Whoops. That is completely what I meant to type.

 

[Esme2345]

Can you provide more details? Like age of hen, a little about your environment, what you feed them, any recent treats....

im not sure to be honest as we only got her a couple of months ago. She was definitely under a year old. They have quite a large run and I sometimes let them out to free range around the farm but I haven’t been able to recently due to it getting dark very early nowadays. They’re all on layers pellets and often have corn, mealworms as snacks. I haven’t changed anything in the way I look after them and I have some 4/5 year old chickens and have never had any problems like this. She was a very very large bird compared to my others and was wondering if that was a cause for concern? Thanks