Deceased legbar stress, disease, food?

[Buffbockers]

Chicken is already dead, trying to figure out why. She was 6 mo old cream legbar. She started laying eggs around 4 months every other day. At 6 months she stopped laying. Chalked it up to a molt/hormone change. BUT at the same time my 5 year old kiddo started handling her more as he was going to take her to the fair.
A week after she stopped laying we had a 3 day heat advisory and she became lethargic and comb/wattle paled/shriveled. Checked her vent, nothing concerning, not egg bound. She drank a bunch of water. Also noted her wattle had black on edge, chalked it up to other chickens bulleying her (although we didn’t see any). She got better overnight in isolation. Regretfully took her to the fair the next day. She was vet checked there and nothing concerning. Spent 5 days at the fair, seemed to be ok but didn’t eat/drink much at all. Gave her a small piece of watermelon (no rind or seeds), ate it up but then immediately had diarrhea and pasting. Next day she wasn’t eating so she had another bit of watermelon and a piece of bun which she ate up. Next morning she was dead. Fair staff saw her die and removed her so we didn’t get to see anything at the end. I feel like her decline started when she stopped laying eggs as she wasn’t the same, but also worried the watermelon or fair or handling stress killed her? Or disease since it was over two week time frame? Thanks in advance.

 

[Buffbockers]

Picture of her with her piece of watermelon in her fair cage. Not the best pic bit most recent.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about your Pullet, it would be hard to know why she died without further investigation. If you lose anymore in a short period of time, it would be a good idea to refrigerate the body and take/send it to your state lab (link below) for analysis.

Just a guess with her starting to lay at 4mo and stopped at 6mo along with added stress/heat, etc. She may have been having some type of reproductive issues, but that's a guess. There are so many things that can affect poultry.

I'd just keep an eye on all the girls, see that they are eating a nutritionally balanced poultry feed, have oyster shell and grit (crushed granite) separately free choice, limit treats to just a few times a week.
Check crops to make sure they are emptying overnight and regularly inspect for external parasites (lice/mites). Getting a fecal float through your vet can also help rule out the need for deworming.


https://vetmed.iastate.edu/vdl/

 

[Buffbockers]

I'm sorry to hear about your Pullet, it would be hard to know why she died without further investigation. If you lose anymore in a short period of time, it would be a good idea to refrigerate the body and take/send it to your state lab (link below) for analysis.

Just a guess with her starting to lay at 4mo and stopped at 6mo along with added stress/heat, etc. She may have been having some type of reproductive issues, but that's a guess. There are so many things that can affect poultry.

I'd just keep an eye on all the girls, see that they are eating a nutritionally balanced poultry feed, have oyster shell and grit (crushed granite) separately free choice, limit treats to just a few times a week.
Check crops to make sure they are emptying overnight and regularly inspect for external parasites (lice/mites). Getting a fecal float through your vet can also help rule out the need for deworming.


https://vetmed.iastate.edu/vdl/

Thank you for your kind and informative reply. I know the information was vague (as was her death) so I appreciate the tips on what we should be looking for going forward to keep the rest of our birds healthy. Thank you!