Found dead in my run with no injuries??

[SemperFiChicken]

I went out to my run/coop tonight to gather eggs and noticed my 8-9 month old Copper Maran was dead, lying underneath the coop inside the run. She had no apparent injuries, was stiff so I know she has been dead for some time. Definitely was not dead last night when I gathered eggs. She hadn’t given us any eggs yet, I was told BCM tend to take up to 9 months for that. Egg bound maybe? She was big and healthy, no nutritional issues I wouldn’t think. She was also far enough from the wire as for me to believe the dogs couldn’t have gotten her. Ideas? Thanks for any input. My 10 year old is heartbroken. We were planning on breeding her with our EE roo to make OE’s.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I have had things like this happen. I am so sorry you lost her.

One of my young ones was egg bound and 2 had heart issues.

 

[theoldchick]

Hard to tell without a necropsy. However, an otherwise healthy fat chicken might have had a cardiac event.

 

[sourland]

Perhaps a congenital weakness that finally caught up to her or even a heart attack. Sudden deaths of apparently healthy birds generally indicate that it was not an infectious entity. Sorry for your loss.

 

[R1V3R20NG]

Sorry for your loss. I have had one of mine die from liver failure, another die from depression compounded with egg bound, and another die from heat stroke combined with a heart attack. Just have to learn how to move on. It gets tough.

 

[jcchomps]

One of my birds had a heart attack on Sunday (I sent her in for a necropsy, underlying cause of the heart attack not known at this time) and I attended a "troubleshooting poultry health" talk on Tuesday -- apparently if the bird has a heart attack, she or he will typically be on their back with their feet in the air.

 

[micstrachan]

I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m on the newer end of chicken keeping, but myhunch is also some sort of cardiac event.

 

[chickens really]

What do you feed?...Too many treats can cause organs to fail..Fat liver, heart disease...Etc..