Hen died suddenly for no obvious reason

[azhnasa]

Hello friends,
I held my hen in hand today and tilted her a little bit to wash her feet and she started to feel like she is suffocating and she died a minute after.
I'm extremely sad.
I didn't do anything wrong.
All I did was to tilt her a bit to wash her muddy feet.
It kind of felt like there was already water in her lungs and when I tilted her a tiny bit, she couldn't breathe anymore.
She was a very healthy chicken.
Do any of you folks have this experience?
Why a healthy chicken may die if you hold her in hand and tilt her just 10 degree ?
She clearly couldn't breathe and died of lack of oxygen.
As soon I noticed she has hard time breathing, I put her on ground but she died a minute later.
The whole thing happened just too fast.
What kind of condition this is?
Could she have a lot of fluid built up already in her lung that a little bit of tilting caused her lung to get full of fluid ?
Where fluid build up in their body that can so easily flow to their lungs and cause them to not breathe anymore?
I'm very very sad.
This was a very healthy chicken. No way I could imagine this could happen to her her just by lifting her up and tilting her a bit to wash her feet. I didn't put any pressure on her. She just suddenly died in my hand. And the water I pour was just on her feet. I could hear fluid in her lungs because she couldn't breather .

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she may have had a crop full of food and water, and when picked up and leaned over, she may have had the food and water come back up in her throat, causing aspiration (choking.) If her crop was not emptying or she had a slow crop they can sound gurgly. Some chickens will also panic when being held, and holding them around the chest tightly can restrict their breathing. And the third thing is that she could have just had a heart attack. It is hard to know exactly why she died, so I would not beat yourself up. Sorry that she died.

 

[azhnasa]

I used to hold her in hand all the time so there is no way she was panicked or died of heart attack. She was happy I'm washing her feet. Yes, she was eating and drinking before I held her but why would a 10 degree tilting to the side cause water to get to her lungs ?!

 

[Nyhillbillies]

Im so sorry for your loss and your pain. I understand your devastation. From your story, it doesn’t seem like you were in the wrong in action or intent.
I don’t have an answer as to what happened to your dear hen. I do know that it was her time. If something is meant to be, we don’t have the power to change it. We have to just accept it and be thankful of the time we have with our fellow creations.

 

[WoDia]

I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your hen. Try not to beat yourself up. Perhaps she had something going on that you couldn’t have known about. Sometimes, they’re good at hiding illness. Sometimes, it’s just their moment to go. Hugs from me and my flock for you and yours.