Help my PLEASE... with identifying cause of death in my 8 week old chick.

[Pocoscowgirl]

Tonight I found my 8 week old chick dead. This morning when I woke up she was shivering, I warmed her up holding her close and then put the heat lamp on. The temperature had dropped over night pretty drastically. I kept watching them (2 chicks) and my little white one seem ok. Later in the day I cleaned their run and cleaned water. Left to feed the horses and came back about 2 hours later and found her lying on her side and past. She was already hard and it had not even been that long. My other chick was panicking I immediately removed her to a new cage incase of a disease. I am now watching her closely. I am also concern about my other chick now in case of disease.
I am heart broken and feel so guilty I missed something. If anyone has any experience with this kind of death I would love to hear input.

 

[azygous]

Sudden death in a chicken so young is likely not disease but exposure to a toxic substance. You will need to go over every inch of the space where your chicks are kept and look for molds, pesticides, petroleum distillates such as paint thinner, WD40. I lost a four-week old chick once when it was free ranging with its broody and it picked up some grit under my log splitter that was contaminated with hydraulic fluid.

Chicks can also die from constipation or impacted crop from getting too many treats and not being offered grit. They can also get impacted crop from not getting enough water. I nearly lost a chick when a nipple waterer malfunctioned and the chick wasn't able to drink.

 

[chickens really]

Got cold, bad heart also comes to mind. Sorry that happened..

 

[Pocoscowgirl]

The question you gave @azygous about getting enough water. The other chick she was in the pen with kept kicking up coop refresh into their water and I kept having to empty it. Do you think this could have contributed to it? A friend of mine also mentioned soil bacteria. Question on Medicated starter feed, there are so many conversations about this. She does her own preventions by using Corrid(sp?)and sprinkling yellow suffer in the soil?
I hate not knowing what happened, was she weak and that's why she was shaking in the morning, or did she basically choke.

 

[chickens really]

Shaking is a symptom of the body shutting down.

 

[azygous]

Sadly, the only way to find out precisely what killed a chicken is to pay for a lab to look at the chicken's body after death and to test for various possibilities. This is how I found out a very contagious avian virus killed an eleven month old cockerel I had a few years back. A friend with more means than I offered to pay for the necropsy as she was as bewildered as I was that such a young beautiful chicken would get sick and die. It turned out he had so many tumors, his liver weighed two pounds.

There are two avian viruses that are common. Marek's can target a chick that was young as yours, while the virus in my flock usually causes symptoms later than Marek's. Both are very contagious and one chicken being confirmed to carry the virus means all the flock carries it. Necropsies are often expensive and tax ones budget, but they can clear up a lot of questions.

 

[Eggcessive]

Where do you live? Most states in the US have state vets who will do a necropsy to look for a cause of death. At 8 weeks, coccidiosis could have been a problem. Usually the chick will appear lethargic, hunched, not eat, and have runny poops sometimes with blood prior to dying. If you ever suspect coccidiosis, Corid is safe to use even if the problem is not coccidiosis. Cold temperatures may also have been the problem.Sorry for your loss.