Dead Hen Suddenly Explanation Needed Please

[27strong]

I live in CA, San Jose. My flock is fine healthy to the core. I go down to let them run for 1 hour. Starting immediately on Friday I noticed one of my hens standing still and is inactive. She would Just stand there barely barely grazing. She ate and drank just suddenly lost activity. She just stood there in one spot starring out into space. She was all bunched up like it was cold. Seemed sleepy entire time. On Saturday she did the same thing. I came back 6 hours later she was dead on her back. They are all molting right now. No we don't have mites. I checked her butt and it looked messed up. One of the area around her hole was swollen red. It wasn't an even pinkish surrounding. Could this be problem? All my hens are 6-8 month old got them this summer. Hen that died had blue pale tint on comb when i found her dead. Nostrils had some kind of watery clear mucus. Just a little bit of it. What killed my hen?

 

[Judy]

I'm afraid the only way to be sure is a necropsy. Here's a thread from the sticky in this forum that might be helpful for that:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/40141/link-find-your-state-vet-for-a-necropsy

The redness around the vent might just be what the others did to her after she died; it wouldn't be an unusual place for them to start. The comb color should mean the area wasn't getting enough blood, as from a heart problem, though of course there could be other reasons.

I'm sorry you lost your hen.

 

[27strong]

this chickens are family hobby so i don't think my parents will be doing necropsy. Sudden death is serious but it won't effect our income. Thank you for advice none the less. Now the thing is its just died. It looked healthy it was dark when it died. I don't think other could find it in the darkness. When i picked it up it was still warm. This was a 7 month old hen. When we bought our pack we had 1 die as predicted. Now another 1 dies. It looked healthy so whatever killed it must be internal. She fell over and died. I don't want to think this is a virus because my god we are so isolated from everything that the only thing that can kill these birds is some kind of air born flue from the future or bad food which i doubt. I mean they eat grass around the area and bugs. They eat lizards and house mice that they can catch. Maybe a mouse was carrying something? Water supply is clean. I clean it every day.

 

[ForgePondFarm]

I have had a hen die last week with the exact same symptoms. At first I thought she may be egg bound but that was not the case. Yesterday we pulled another hen from the coop with the same symptoms. Even moved into the house and the much warmer temperature she is likely going to be dead within the next few hours. This hen is drooling and cannot stand any longer. There is some loose stool in the "sick bed" but not oddly colored or stringy. I too would like some advice if any is out there.

 

[seminolewind]

I would tend to think that she either ate something bad, or possibly had some kind of organ failure, maybe cardiac. Sometimes you just never know what happened. Hopefully no other of your hens will get the same thing.

 

[ceyedcoop]

We live in Ohio with the weather ever changing and getting colder I extended the amount of light in the coop and added some additional plastic to stop some of the wind. The girls always act odd when a change in their environment occurs, one in particular(Buttercup) wouldn't leave the roost and I had to encourage her to move about the yard and hen house. Please note my girls are nearly 3 years old and very strong minded and can't wait to be in there yard for the day. Sunday 1/8 I found buttercup dead in the yard (no foul play) dog, hawk etc. My other 5 hens seem to be taking on the same characteristics as her? I have noticed some lose of feathers in the house and no egg laying-which had decreased over time? Additionally, after the death I removed and cleaned out feeders/water and brought in new food. Any ideas on what might be afflicting them?

 

[ForgePondFarm]

My second sick hen died within 24 hours. If it was contagious I believe we removed her in time to stop the spread, I hope. I suggest this web doc as a resource http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044. I also consulted a cousin who has been farming and raising livestock including chickens for years. His guess was pneumonia brought on by recent weather conditions. After researching I tend to agree. I did get the contact information for the vet he uses as I have decided if a third becomes ill to arrange for a autopsy. You chicken pet owners may not want to hear this or even believe it but he reminded me that a certain percentage of my stock will die inexplicably even when very well cared for. I was not happy with ths reminder but I get it. We continue to monitor our girls very closely

 

[CMV]

27Strong- The position you found your bird in at death is indicative of a condition called "flipover". It is when a bird (commonly a roo or meatie) is standing there without a care in the world, and suddenly flips over and dies. It is a cardiac issue that is very rapid onset and always fatal. Your bird likely had a heart attack. It is so common that it has a name- "flip" or "flipover"- referring to the fact that birds afflicted by this are often found on their backs at time of death.

Sorry for your losses everyone. It's tough to lose birds unexpectedly. You wrack your brain trying to figure out if you may have missed something, or could have done something...

 

[BaGAWK!!]

27Strong- The position you found your bird in at death is indicative of a condition called "flipover". It is when a bird (commonly a roo or meatie) is standing there without a care in the world, and suddenly flips over and dies. It is a cardiac issue that is very rapid onset and always fatal. Your bird likely had a heart attack. It is so common that it has a name- "flip" or "flipover"- referring to the fact that birds afflicted by this are often found on their backs at time of death.

Sorry for your losses everyone. It's tough to lose birds unexpectedly. You wrack your brain trying to figure out if you may have missed something, or could have done something...

Hmmm, CMV, my almost 3 yr old white leghorn roo died while roosting in his tree, we found him hanging upside down w/feet still attached to the branch. No symptoms, no warning. Could this have been a "flip over" incident as well?

Sorry to hijaçk your post, but they are right. Sometimes you will never know what killed them and it may drive you nuts. But just keep an eye on the others for signs. I would check a fecal, I am a huge proponent of that. It should show you if you have a work infestation or coccidia. And no, they are not too old for problems with coccidia.

 

[27strong]

Hello people I will take back my thread again. On January 14th my black chicken died without a cause I understand now February 20th I get up go down and i see one of my white colored chickens dead. I do not know the reason. But I found her outside the coup dead. They ate her entire butt hole...man phuking creatures...what the hell is wrong with my flock...do I kick their asses or something? Starting with the small ones, then onto the medium ones then the extra large hens...they are all getting their asses kicked. I am going to cut out an outline of a bird, color it black like a hawk and chase my hens around the court yard. Anyway lets get serious now. She was lively and healthy the day before not like the other chicken. When I found her she showed no sign of sickness. They are molting and the bold area where she lost her feathers was very yellow. Other than that...they have clean place, clean water, food. Its winter here but she couldn't have froze to death because they are inside with other chickens and she has extra thick feathers. It cold but not death cold here. Anyway I am at a loss. I want to tell you all one thing. We ended up with 24 birds because they told us birds will die when they are shipped to their new locations as chicks from another galaxy. They didn't die. They all survived...now they are 6-8 months old and perhaps now they are dying? What? I don't want to see a pattern of death here...seriously. Either way my family won't be spending money to fix this or whatever. I just want to let you know that another one has died without signs of sickness. What sickness, we are in the middle of nowhere. Unless while grazing they dug in the dirt and inhaled a virus that has been buried there since the beginning of time i do not know what the hell can be killing my birds. And i don't think they are going to chicken heaven either. Straight to chicken hell with all of my butt hole eaters. Ps: I have to change my forum name...1 dead, 2 dead 3, dead, 2 roosters gone by law, 2 rescue hens...