Lost one of my Swedish Flower Hens....

[coop-er]

When I went out to my coop this morning I found one of my Swedish Flower Hens dead on the floor. No sign of injury or illness. Yesterday I spent part of the day cleaning the coop and run, all was well with all of my birds. I have 16. This hen was acting normally, eating, drinking, moving around, dust bathing etc.. The birds have a new coop and run, plenty of food and clean water, shade and they free range under supervision about 2 hours in the evening. They did not free range yesterday and when I closed up my coop last night everybody was in their usual spot on the roosts and the coop was locked securely. No other birds appear out of sorts. All of my birds just completed a five-day course of Corid due to 1 suspicious case with a rooster. What can cause a seemingly healthy bird to drop dead in a matter of hours? Or is this just one of life's chicken mysteries forever to be an unsolved puzzle? Just want to make sure I am not missing anything.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Probably a chicken mystery unless there was a corid issue.

If you lose another in short order, it would be time for a quick necropsy. Find out where your state lab is and how they want a bird handled and delivered.

Try cutting the bird open to look for any anomalies. Cut it from vent all the way to the neck and cut open the rib cage, laying it open. Sometimes the problem will be obvious. Do it before the flies deposit too many eggs.