HendricksonHomestead
Songster
Hi! I'm sad to say that one of my first chickens that I got--my Golden Laced Sebright was dead in the coop this morning when I let my flock out to roam. For the past two weeks, she had been walking around in the nest box like she wanted to lay. She hadn't started laying yet (she hatched in January), but I had expected her to start anytime. Along with acting like she wanted to lay, she had been a little slow/lethargic. She had been keeping her head hunched unlike when she usually would keep her head held high. I had assumed she was acting this way due to getting ready to lay her first egg. She was still eating and drinking normally. Last night when I was putting my chickens to bed, around 7pm, she was very lethargic. She let me pick her up which is very unusual--she was a flighty hen. I set her into the coop and she stood there for a minute before walking over to the corner to sleep. Which again, is very unlike her. She would always sleep on the roost. I picked her up out of the corner and set her on the roost as I would with any other chicken trying to sleep in an unusual place. I locked the coop up and went to bed. When I let my flock out this morning around 10am, I opened the coop door and saw her laying on the ground lifeless right below the roost where I had set her. (Her best buddy was my silkie rooster, who she had spent all of her time with. He wouldn't leave her body. 
It was super sad to see.) I did a necropsy on her and didn't notice anything unusual. I was thinking maybe she was egg bound, but I didn't find any egg in her. I also didn't see a broken egg in her or anything. Her crop had only normal food in it as well, nothing foreign in it. The only thing that was odd is after rigor mortis had set in, her neck was very flexible. It still flops all around when I move her. I'm beginning to think maybe she was too weak to be up on the roost and she fell off and broke her neck? I'm really not sure what caused her to become sick...all of my other chickens are healthy and acting normally. I'm so sad because she was one of my two first chicks I got this Spring and she was a special hen.
What is your experience with a death like this? Could she have been bullied by my other larger chickens and it caused her to become sick like this? Or is there a disease that causes these symptoms? I'm so lost on what could have happened.
It was super sad to see.) I did a necropsy on her and didn't notice anything unusual. I was thinking maybe she was egg bound, but I didn't find any egg in her. I also didn't see a broken egg in her or anything. Her crop had only normal food in it as well, nothing foreign in it. The only thing that was odd is after rigor mortis had set in, her neck was very flexible. It still flops all around when I move her. I'm beginning to think maybe she was too weak to be up on the roost and she fell off and broke her neck? I'm really not sure what caused her to become sick...all of my other chickens are healthy and acting normally. I'm so sad because she was one of my two first chicks I got this Spring and she was a special hen. What is your experience with a death like this? Could she have been bullied by my other larger chickens and it caused her to become sick like this? Or is there a disease that causes these symptoms? I'm so lost on what could have happened.
Sorry for your loss.
