Lost a chicken yesterday

[Yello]

Had the strangest thing happen. Night before last when putting the hens to bed, one of the girls was "sneezing" a wee bit. It was late and myself not feeling well from a cold, locked them in tight for the night. Yesterday when I got home from work, I let the girls out of their run and sneezy was still sneezing but acting normal in every other way. I picked her up to have a look and she indicated that she was not happy about that, which is not uncommon. I put her down and quite suddenly she was "sneezing" out of control, started flopping around, sort of convulsing and in a matter of half a minute or so, was dead. Does anyone know what caused this?

 

[Eggcessive]

How old was she? If she had no other respiratory symptoms such as goopy eyes or nose, eye or facial swelling, or chest rattles, she may have had infectious bronchitis or MG. A necropsy is the only way to know for sure. Make sure that you have plenty of ventilation in your coop, not too hot, and no dust or ammonia odors. Also watch your others for any of the above symptoms. Here is a good link to read about respiratory diseases: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[Yello]

Thank you for your reply and information. She was just over 3 years. I did notice her sneezing goop when she was flopping around. Also after she died it looked like she had runny eyes. The coop is well venilated, weather here has been cool and haven't noticed ammonia smell.