Just lost one a few minutes ago

[Original Recipe]

Went out this morning to find one hen very lethargic, sitting down near the water fount. When the others all came to greet me she just sat there. At this point her head was up and she just looked tired. Eventually she slowly stood up but didn't move from the spot and made no sounds. I noticed that her tail was down and she kept shaking her head. Then she slowly sat back down. I decided that I needed to quarantine her so I went to prepare another area. When I came back a few minutes later she was still in the same spot only now had her face on the ground. I thought she had expired but when I opened the door she lifted her head up. Face looked pretty pale. I reached in and picked her up and she didn't even move, and she is one who doesn't really like to be picked up. I took her to another spot and sat her down and she was shivering a bit and looked chilly (it was cool with heavy rain all night here) so I went to grab a blanket for her to nestle into. When I came back she was convulsing pretty severely and all of a sudden a tremendous amount of water poured from her beak and she expired. Water continued dripping from her beak even after she had passed.

What would cause this? She was her normal self yesterday and all of the others seem normal this morning. Does this sound like any sort of illness that I should be concerned with the others contracting or does this sound like she got something stuck and drank herself to death trying to work it out?

 

[Eggcessive]

Her behavior before death with the fluid coming from the beak, and convulsing, can be a common behavior at death. How old was she? By appearing sick near the water, she could have had coccidiosis or may have had an obstruction, but without having your state vet do a necropsy, or doing one yourself, you will never know for sure. She could have been egg bound or had a crop problem--there are just so many different things it could have been. Sorry for your loss.

 

[emmaie892000]

It could have been something to do with her crop, explaining why the water flowed out.

 

[Original Recipe]

This hen was 19 months old (as are all of my flock). This was one of the strongest birds in the flock and had shown absolutely no signs of weakness. She had been foraging well the day before and went to roost with the rest of the flock that night with a full crop. I initially thought maybe she had something stuck in her crop but upon post mortum inspection, her crop felt empty. The only abnormal thing I found was her vent was bulging out on one side like a partial prolapse and there was a small amount of yellow poo. Does this sound like egg binding?

The rest of my flock (down to 6 now) seems happy and normal but I only got 1 egg yesterday. Egg production has actually been a little weird for the last month which makes me wonder if they could be sick and I just don't know it. I'll go a few days with only 2-3 eggs then one day I'll get 6 then a few more days of 2-3 or 4. I'm not seeing anything abnormal with their droppings and their diet hasn't changed.

 

[enola]

If she was egg bound, you would have found an egg when you did your necropsy.

Have you wormed your chickens?

 

[Original Recipe]

I didn't do a necropsy, mainly because I don't know how to properly do it or what exactly I would be looking for. I just looked her over externally for anything that looked or felt wrong. No, I have never wormed them but I've also never seen anything in their poo that would suggest worms. Should I worm them as a precaution and if so what do I use and where do i get it?