Hello, I'm new. One of our girls just died and I don't know why.

[Fllight]

Hi everyone, I wonder if you might be able to help.

We got our girls about 5 weeks ago, they are coming up to 20 weeks and don't lay yet.

We have four - a cuckoo maran, a copper black maran, a rhode and, well, we had a light sussex but we lost her tonight.

I didn't notice anything wrong with her until bedtime, and the others had gone up into the roost (they have a triangular shaped ark, with run underneath, and free range most of the day) and she was just sat on the floor in a huddle.

I went to see her and she let me lift her so I knew something was up. Her crop felt hard but I don't know how normal this is, as I don't handle them much.

I placed her in the nesting end of the roost, for safety tonight, but when I checked half an hour later she was flat out and gone.

I could hear her breathing a little bit before she passed away, but she had no discharge or anything, and seemed normal all day...they all went in the shade, as it was very hot here.

Come to think of it she was in the run maybe a little separate from the others, but I saw her eating a fair bit and thought she might just be hungry.

Could she have died from heat stroke or such? The others seem OK so far. How should I dispose of her - she is in a cardboard box in conservatory at the mo, waiting till I can ring the farmer tomorrow and see what he thinks.

Thankyou so much for any thoughts, I am very new to all this.

 

[MotherJean]

Your best bet is to consult the person you got her from and take the body with you. Their experience combined with the ability to really look the bird over will be much more valuable to you than from us here on the forum.

 

[Fllight]

Thankyou very much...I will call him in the morning, I called when I realised she wasn't well but his wife said give her some cod liver oil, and call again tomorrow...sorry, it is gone 10pm here in the UK. I didn't realise this was a US forum : )

I just wondered what could kill a chicken this fast, I suppose.

 

[MotherJean]

I understand. The truth is, there are lots of things that can kill a chicken quickly. Maybe it's because they are such hardy creatures, the early symptoms of a problem are too subtle for us to notice. Then, by the time we do notice, the disease/condition is at a critical stage. Maybe, too, it's because most of us don't spend a lot of time in the company of our chickens the way we do our other pets so even gross symptoms can go unnoticed. First thing we know anything is wrong is the day we walk out and find them down and dying or dead. It's never easy when that happens and the whole guessing game of trying to figure out what happened can sometimes drive you crazy. You are lucky to at least be able to put your head together with the farmer and try to come up with an answer.

So sorry for your loss.