Hen Died

[RitaAnn]

I just had a seemly healthy hen die today, others look fine, no have exhibeted any strange behaviors. Any ideas???? Hens are 7months old, BO and a GLW
Thanks for any ideas, a newbie

 

[Cornychick]

 

[davidb]

 

[fiberart57]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens, I'm sorry your first question is a sad one.

I don't have an idea about why your hen died, and I doubt if others do as well. It's a mysterious thing called SCD, Sudden Chicken Death. I'm not joking and I'm not being facetious or sarcastic, it's something that chickens do sometimes; drop dead without an explanation.

Fortunately, mine haven't so I'm lucky but many others on BYC have experienced similar losses.

The way to find out is by necropsy; to cut open the hen and try to find out what happened. Experienced chicken people can do their own but most find a university ag department or vet to do this.

What you can do is look over the body carefully for signs of puncture wounds or bites as well as mite or lice damage.

If you acertain that it was nothing contagious that killed your hen, you may consider getting the one left a companion. Chickens do better with pals.

Good luck, Mary