Dead Chicken!

[virgobabe]

Yesterday I fed my chickens and changed their water at about 5pm;today when i got home from work before 12p. my husband went to feed the chickens and one was dead. I had 6 chickens and their pen is 6x14, the dead chicken was laying in the back corner of their pen.
I am not sure what this was caused by. I looked around to see what people would say, but i thought i would get up to date advice.
The pen is very secure, my yard is fenced. I do get from time to time a critter in the yard but their is not any way it could have gotten into the pen.
I looked at the dead chicken to see if it had any peck marks, or some sign of what the cause of death may have been, but it looked plump and healthy.
I am curious to know if i should clean the pen and make sure if this was caused by infection or something that any trace would be gone, or if there are any other safety measures i should take.

Thank you for any advice you can give me!

 

[Judy]

If it didn't have any symptoms, no runny nose or discharging eye or sneezing or anything of that sort, then the chances are it was something like an egg laying problem, heart attack, stroke, etc. that wouldn't affect the others. Chickens are very good at hiding that they don't feel well.

How old are they? I assume this is a hen?

Some people do open a dead bird to see if they can see anything unusual, and some have the state lab do an autopsy -- you really wouldn't be sure without a proper autopsy of course.

It's also possible to die of worms or lice/mites, if the infestation is bad enough. Do you treat for these?

 

[virgobabe]

my chickens are almost a year old, they are still young

 

[Anianna]

More information might be helpful, such as what kind of chicken was it and how hot is it where you are? Have any of your chickens been panting? Do your chickens have access to plants other than just grass (in the pen or even outside the pen where they might be able to reach)?

Look closely at your other chickens to see if any are showing signs that may help. Look for panting, drooping, nasal discharge, critter infestation, etc. Check their eyes for anything unusual, too. Watch their behavior closely and see if you notice anything unusual. Check poops for irregularities like blood.

Let us know if you notice anything from your observations and take pictures of anything you think is out of the ordinary.