Heart attack?

[Pent]

So, I'm feeling really crappy. My most Ameraucana looking hen just recently keeled over for no apparent reason. The other birds are looking fine, and she had been too. Until I thought they looked a bit cold and drafty in the winter cold. So I took a big piece of scrap plywood and opened up the side of the coop (its on hinges) to add the wood as a kind of wind break. Chickens were in the coop, freaked out. I leaned it against the side, keep in mind this wood was about as wide as the entire coop, coming at them with unknown intentions.
So I closed the side and left them for a few minutes, then I wanted to see if they were using it. So I opened the coop. Miss Hazel was keeled over on her back, wings slightly spread, chest heaving. I panicked, picked her up, she was still breathing, but her head was flopping like a dead thing. I brought her inside where it was warm, but she'd already stopped breathing by that point. Shock or fear death I suppose. Bad genetics, perhaps.

I feed fermented (To clarify that it probably wasn't illness or nutrition) and have since closed off the drafty windows and put in a light. There was literally nothing wrong with her, other than, you know, being dead.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. I would secure that piece of plywood, so that there is no way it could be blown over or fall on another chicken. She may have flown into something and broken her neck or injured her head. Heart attacks are common, too.

 

[Pent]

Thank you. I since nailed the board over the window, I had the same thought. Cut off the problem at the source. There's still plenty of ventilation, so I really didn't need an extra two square feet of air getting in. I don't see where she might have hurt her head or neck, but I suppose its possible.