Lethargic Chicken found dead this morning

[rugznjones]

One of our hens was really lethargic last night and not acting herself and this morning my husband found her dead in the nesting box. We are concerned for the rest of our flock. Her tail was down last night and she was laying around more than normal. She's always been kind of off, not as perky as the rest of them.
Any ideas would help, we are worried about the others.

 

[realsis]

Did she seem really sleepy and lethergic? Was everything else normal like breathing and no mucus or coughing? She wasn't straining as if to lay an egg or anything? If all else seemed fine and the symptoms were lethergic and sleepy she could have gotten coccidosis. Coccidosis CAN be present without bloody poo and it can happen to older chickens too if she came across a strain she had not yet developed immunity to yet. Just a guess but it could have been a possibility.

 

[jh1013]

hello, sorry to hear about your hen. I have had a couple die like that over the past year. They were young and healthy then started acting lethargic and passed away in a few days. One had been brooding some eggs, abandoned them and died a few days later. I believe she just simply got too weak to recover, either from lack of vitamins or was wormy. The other was a cochin roo, he was having a hard time in the 95 degree Texas heat. He insisted on staying in the hen house where it was really hot, the others sayed under a fan and are doing fine. Those were my experiences.It could have been a multitude of things that went wrong with that hen, If she wasnt showing any other signs of illness then i wouldnt worry about the rest of the flock.