Help! Lost a chicken today, trying to figure out why!

[BreakYourFrame]

Hi, new to backyard chickens here. Got our first 3 silkies a few months ago and haven't had any issues until today. Here in NJ we are on the tail end of quite the heat wave, so I've been extra attentive, misting the run, ice cubes in their water, refilling their water during the day, putting a frozen jug of water in their run for them to hang out near if need be, cold treats of yogurt & frozen berries, making sure they have plenty of shade.

This morning, one of our chickens came slowly walking over as I was filling their water, and she had one wing stretched out a bit, which I assumed was heat related. But she immediately started eating the treats I put out, and seemed to tuck the wing back in, so I thought everything was ok. They were misted a couple times today, and fresh water was given. Around 3pm, she was sitting in the shade but looked otherwise normal. By 545pm she was dead.

I'm assuming either heat related or possibly egg bound/internally broken egg(?), although I haven't seen signs of being egg bound other than they haven't laid recently but with the ridiculous heat lately & the fact they are silkies which lay infrequently compared to other chickens, I didn't think much of it. During prior heat waves this summer they stopped producing only to start back up once the temps dropped. Once I took her out I did notice her vent was fairly wide open but not sure what else I would have been looking for. The extended wing this morning had me worried about Marek's, but it seemed like she tucked it back in and was eating, so might that rule it out?

As of now the other two seem to be behaving normally. Hopefully you guys & gals can give me some insight or things to look for because if it was something preventable I obviously don't want to lose any more birds.

Thanks for your time

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

I’m so sorry for your loss!
IMHO, silkies tend not to be hardy in harsh summer and winter weather. I live in Upstate NY and have a very similar climate. I owned 2 Silkies and lost both of them within the first year. One after a very hot day with lots of provided shade, water and cooling methods. My other broke her leg and had to be put down. Best of luck with your other 2!!!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you still have her body where you can refrigerate it in a plastic bag? You can send or take it to your state vet or poultry lab for a necropsy tomorrow to look for a cause of death, and Mareks testing. Hopefully, it wasn’t Mareks, but it can be a little more common in silkies. Sorry for your loss. Here is some contact information:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[BreakYourFrame]

I’m so sorry for your loss!
IMHO, silkies tend not to be hardy in harsh summer and winter weather. I live in Upstate NY and have a very similar climate. I owned 2 Silkies and lost both of them within the first year. One after a very hot day with lots of provided shade, water and cooling methods. My other broke her leg and had to be put down. Best of luck with your other 2!!!!

Thanks! I'm probably gonna put out a little wading pool as well during future heat waves. I thought I did plenty, hoping I'm just unfortunately unlucky with that one and the heat. What breeds do you raise now?

 

[BreakYourFrame]

Do you still have her body where you can refrigerate it in a plastic bag? You can send or take it to your state vet or poultry lab for a necropsy tomorrow to look for a cause of death, and Mareks testing. Hopefully, it wasn’t Mareks, but it can be a little more common in silkies. Sorry for your loss. Here is some contact information:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

Thanks for the info! It's a bit late for that, but I'll definitely bookmark that for the future. Although I hope I don't ever need to use it.