Found new hen dead.

[norxgirl]

Found new hen dead under steps that lead up to roost this morning....no signs of trauma or blood anywhere....coop has hardware cloth over chicken wire, she was less than a year old, Rhode Island Red, had her and two others for about a month now...did something scare her and she fell off the roost in her sleep and broke her neck? Cannot afford neropsy....

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC, and sorry about losing your hen. It is impossible to know what killed her without a necropsy. Some states offer free ones, while some are low cost, but others may be $70-200. You can easily check with the state vet where you live.
Some possible reasons for her death could have been egg binding, coccidiosis from being on new soil, mites, crop problems, or just natural causes. Most of us with chickens have had a chicken die for unknown reasons. Sometimes they will have subtle signs that they are ill, and since they are stoic animals, we might not realize something is wrong.
Necropsies can be performed at home to look at the internal organs, crop and gizzard, the intestines, and abdominal cavity for something unusual.

 

[CWP1966]

I had a Delaware roo to die like that. He was one of my best looking birds. He was about 8 months old. My brother( who has raised and shown birds for 50 years) was here the evening before bragging about how nice he looked. I went out at 4 am the next morning before work to check on them and he sprawled out under the roost dead. I've only lost one like that. The rest were by predators. Brother said he's been watching chickens scratch and dig and just drop dead! It's weird. Sorry for your loss.