Found my chicken dead

[Katedw69]

So I went out to check on my chickens and I found 1 dead in the pen. She is almost a year old and 1 of my best layers but she had what was like pasty butt. It's been better...no problems the last month or so but when I found her her foot had intestine wrapped around it???? What could've caused that??? No blood today and she layed an egg this morning. She's a top hen. Never been bothered by the others and nothing got in and attacked her? Any ideas???

 

[3KillerBs]

If she'd had ongoing issues with pasty butt as an adult she might have had some kind of internal malfunction that resulted in a prolapse.

 

[Katedw69]

Oh no. I'm so sorry. When pasty butt happens in adult chickens, it's called Vent Gleet. That sounds like gleet as well as an extreme prolapse. So, so sorry.

Thank you so much! It helps to give it a name. The vet didn't even tell me that

 

[Sheepheart]

Nope nothing at all. Their pen is pretty secure.

Strange, you don’t live were weasels or like animals are do you? One might have been able to sneak in and done that, though I suspect that it would have left a mess of feathers aswell. You might want to (this might sound heartless) remove the dead chicken but have it close by the coop, and set a camera up to view it. If an animal came in to try and get her they will probably come back for the body. I have a friends who has a decent sized poultry operation and that’s what she does when something kills a bird. Makes it easier to decide on what to do to protect the others

 

[Katedw69]

It was in the middle of the day. She layed an egg this morning. And the intestine was coming neatly in tact out of her vent. (Sorry to be so descriptive)

 

[humblehillsfarm]

If she'd had ongoing issues with pasty butt as an adult she might have had some kind of internal malfunction that resulted in a prolapse.

It sounds like a potential prolapse to me too. Poor girl. If it happened that traumatically, unless you were right there with her to see it right away, there may not have been anything you could have done anyways. Sudden unexpected deaths like that unfortunately are bound to happen

 

[aart]

So I went out to check on my chickens and I found 1 dead in the pen. She is almost a year old and 1 of my best layers but she had what was like pasty butt. It's been better...no problems the last month or so but when I found her her foot had intestine wrapped around it???? What could've caused that??? No blood today and she layed an egg this morning. She's a top hen. Never been bothered by the others and nothing got in and attacked her? Any ideas???

Was it intestine?
What did her vent look like?

If she'd had ongoing issues with pasty butt as an adult she might have had some kind of internal malfunction that resulted in a prolapse.

I wondered if the 2 problems were related too

Absolutely.

What were the pasty butt issues?

 

[Lemon-Drop]

So I went out to check on my chickens and I found 1 dead in the pen. She is almost a year old and 1 of my best layers but she had what was like pasty butt. It's been better...no problems the last month or so but when I found her her foot had intestine wrapped around it???? What could've caused that??? No blood today and she layed an egg this morning. She's a top hen. Never been bothered by the others and nothing got in and attacked her? Any ideas???

I don’t know what happened (I’m pretty new) but I wanted to say I’m really sorry, it’s so hard losing a animal, especially one of your best hens.

 

[Katedw69]

I don’t know what happened (I’m pretty new) but I wanted to say I’m really sorry, it’s so hard losing a animal, especially one of your best hens.

Aww thank you! She was one of my favorites and it was so unexpected!

 

[Sheepheart]

Anything else about her body that might show an animal attack? Like wet feathers or bare spots? And did you find any prints, fur, holes or anything else that shows an animal being around or getting in?