Dead Hen

[Chiknsrcool]

I had my hen with me and inside and I danced around with her and all of a sudden she became so lethargic she couldn’t stand and she wouldn’t eat her mealworms and she died the next morning. It was extremely sudden because she was perfectly fine and clucking and walking around like normal just 5 minutes before. What could have happened???

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm so sorry for your loss. That is very upsetting.

How were you dancing with her? It sounds like it's possible she either got over excited and had a heart attack, over heated and went into shock, or twisted her neck or spine. It can be easy to overextend a chicken without meaning to.

I would look at how you moved her in the dancing. Then I would consider if she ate something from the floor and possibly choked.

This would be accidental death from something that triggered it.

Again, I'm so sorry you lost your pet.
LofMc

 

[Chiknsrcool]

I thought it might be a heart attack but she didn’t convulse or anything and I had her perched on my hand and was spinning around at a slow/ moderate pace. We had her in the shower along with the others with a plastic tablecloth on the ground with shavings over it. It was pretty ripped up and she was pecking in an area where it was torn apart so maybe she ate that and the dancing got it stuck some how? She did have her beak open and she was breathing hard

 

[LizzzyJo]

I am sorry for your loss. To understand better, could you provide some details related to their coop? Why are they in your shower and why are you dancing with them? Is this a hen or a chick?

 

[Chiknsrcool]

I am sorry for your loss. To understand better, could you provide some details related to their coop? Why are they in your shower and why are you dancing with them? Is this a hen or a chick?

We live in Texas and though they could have probably withstood the ice storm we brought them inside and put them in the shower just in case. I was dancing with her because I was listening to music with her and I have done that sort of thing before. She was 10 months old. Also a day or two before this I had brought them outside to play in the snow and Cluck (the dead hen) just kind of sat down on the ground and wouldn’t get up until we brought them back inside. I didn’t think much of it at the time and it might be nothing but I don’t know

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Great variations in temperature are really hard on animals and can cause pneumonia. Bird lungs are especially delicate, so she may have been having problems which you didn't realize. Dancing may have exasperated her lungs...or not...it might have simply been excitement on a taxed lung system.

Without a necropsy, there is really no way of knowing.

Again, sorry for your loss.
LofMc