Dead Chicken

[tejaae]

Found her in the coop/run. We have an 8X8 run with a coop raised inside it. Connecticut, weather has been nice the last week 70-80. She was 5 years old. No rooster. 4 other ladies, they all get along fine.

Put them in last night at about 7pm from free ranging in my raised vegetable garden beds (not planted yet).
She was somewhat stiff. Head didn't flop. Could not see any sign of egg bound which we lost one to last year.

We started to clean out the bottom of the run last night... Shoveling out the poo/dirt buildup.

These are our first chickens, had them for the last 5 years. So any learning stuff you can share would be great.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry about your hen.

Unfortunately it would be hard to know why she died with a necropsy. Some of us do our own, if that's something you wish to do, take a look in the abdomen and at the organs and take some photos. Sending the body to your state lab would be another option. Refrigerate the body and send it in for analysis. https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

Speculation on my part - a 5yr old laying hen, likely some type of reproductive disorder that took it's tole or organ failure, but that's just a guess.