Help, dead hen with NO clue

[L0rraine]

I have had a pretty bald Polish and a Buff Orpington separated from the rest of my flock for a couple of months (because they are 'severely' at the bottom of the pecking order). The BO is old and may never be able to hold her own, but the Polish seemed healthy and happy and was laying an egg a day. We had some pretty gusty weather and rain (not terribly heavy rain last night). They have a little house that they lay eggs in, and normally go into when the weather is severe, but they seem to prefer roosting outside in their small covered 'safe' run in the evenings lately. It's a 4x8 covered, enclosed run in the center of a larger pen. The cover is just on top so the sides are open to the air. I fed them a bit last night before it got dark, as I'd been gone all day and they both were out happily chowing down. And then I said (as if they could understand me), "You girls might want to sleep in the house tonight - it's getting pretty windy out here". When I went out to feed this morning the Polish was dead. She was at the opposite end of the pen from the house (about eight feet away) - there are no marks on her anywhere and no signs of fowl play. I'm baffled! So my only two thoughts are that some bizarre wind gust blew her off her perch and she died of fright or a broken neck - or maybe, totally unrelated to the storm, that mold thing people mention every now and then? Really, their straw looks pretty clean and dry, but their little house might not be completely water proof.

I have no other thoughts. She looked healthy, was eating, drinking and egg laying right up through yesterday. Are there other things I should be considering? I'm in the Northwest so, though it was windy, it probably didn't dip below 40 degrees. And, she was completely dry so it doesn't seem she got wet and cold and went into shock.

 

[Hecate]

Wish I could offer more than this, but I had a polish who up and died out of nowhere last year. She was for all appearances healthy, and upon inspection showed no parasites, injuries or the like. Since no other hens came down with anything, I had to assume she was simply not a hardy gal, or had some internal issues I could not have diagnosed.

 

[ranchhand]

Probably not mold, but no idea what it could have been instead. So sorry you lost her.

Mold manifests over several days. I lost a roo to it last year, and now I really push for clean bedding and fresh, dry food.

 

[L0rraine]

Thanks for your replies! I really wasn't thinking the mold thing made much sense. It is hard to keep things pristine with these guys, but overall I was thinking I wasn't seeing anything that would really implicate mold. Sounds like, from another thread, that this sudden death thing isn't totally out of the norm. Still a bit unsettling. Fortunately I wasn't as attached to her as some, but will miss her lovely white eggs. And, I'm not sure what to do with my lone old Orpington now. Can't put her in with the big chickens and she's too aggressive towards my buff Silkie roo when I try to house her in with the little guys. My husband can't believe the 'Soap Operas' this feathered flock thing turn into.