Dead hen, wormed and treated for lice yesterday

[ChickenCanoe]

I got home from work today and let the girls out to free range until bedtime. They all rushed out as usual to start scratching and foraging. Then when I opened up the coop door to clean the poop board and gather eggs, I was shocked to find one of my Bielefelders dead on the poop board. It happened sometime overnight or in the early morning, because the other birds had pooped on her.She didn't have any external wounds. She was fine yesterday afternoon and evening when I put them up for the night. She laid an egg yesterday. All the other girls are acting normal today, all the poop I scooped looked normal. I treated them all yesterday with Valbazen as a follow up to Wazine 10 days ago. I gave each bird 0.5 ml (or less depending on how much they fought) and she is one of my bigger girls, so definitely didn't overdose her. I saw round worms in poop, but I live in rural Central Florida where it's always warm and humid, with lots of wildlife, so I figured they had more than just one kind. It was also time for the 10 day lice follow up treatment, so they all got dusted with some Dust On powder (approved for poultry and I've used it before on all of them without problems). I then cleaned out the roost and nesting boxes, creating lots of dust which I tried hard to keep away from my girls, then put down fresh pine shavings and sprinkled with more Dust On powder. I tried to call the vet to ask if they could do a necropsy, but they were already closed. I wasn't sure how "fresh" she would need to be for it or that they would even do it, so my daughter and I had a little funeral and I buried her. Could she have reacted to the Valbazen? I can't think of any other reason that would cause an otherwise healthy bird to just drop dead suddenly overnight. She was so sweet and friendly. I am crushed.

I've had birds die suddenly on several occasions. Some of the reasons unrelated to disease were cancer, heart attack, broken neck, fatty liver, etc.
I once let a flock out in the morning. All was good. The rooster started doing his mating dance. I turned around and turned back and he was dead. I sent him for a necropsy and he died of heart attack.
I once had a Wyandotte hen die suddenly. I did a home posting on her and she was loaded up with fat. Her liver gizzard and other organs were encased in fat. I immediately put the rest of her flock on a strictly chicken feed diet. I had been throwing them a handful of scratch too many times a day.

 

[rusty acres]

I'm so sorry, I know how you feel, my lucy died a couple days ago. She was fine, so healthy looking. She just sat down and died. Ive been watching what I give them more carefully the last couple of days. Her main food was Bar Ale crumbles with Omega 3. But we also give them a treat of birdseed a couple times a day, and veggies once in awhile. They free range all day so they get a lot of bugs and worms. I'm new at raising chickens. I had 3 I got last may, now 2, Lizzie and ethel. I feel so paranoid about lizzie and ethel now, but I found this site and I'm learning so much from all the nice members. Good luck to you.

Thank you. I'm sorry for your loss as well. It was so sudden and unexpected. I've spent the last month nursing another injured chicken back to health, who has really made a surprising comeback, got her reintegrated, and was finally feeling like the flock would be in a nice healthy place after their follow-up worm and lice treatments. Then I find one of my lovely Bielefelders dead. I never anticipated raising chickens would be so heartbreaking at times. I have found this website to be invaluable, so I'm glad you found it too!