My 11 month old hen died

[Mimi1008]

Hello, wondering if someone can shed some light on why my 11 month old hen died. She has never been sick. I found her dead on the floor of the coop when I got home from work. I didn’t check the coop before leaving this morning so I’m thinking she was probably there and died during the night. Could it have been from a temperature change? We were in the 70’s here Sunday and the temperature dropped to the 30’s last night. I’m just guessing… I have no clue why she died so young. She was a lavender wayndotte. I held her yesterday and she was fine. She was very timid and probably the lowest on the pecking order. None of the other chickens ever harmed her other than your typical peck. She would just get out of there way.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello, wondering if someone can shed some light on why my 11 month old hen died. She has never been sick. I found her dead on the floor of the coop when I got home from work. I didn’t check the coop before leaving this morning so I’m thinking she was probably there and died during the night. Could it have been from a temperature change? We were in the 70’s here Sunday and the temperature dropped to the 30’s last night. I’m just guessing… I have no clue why she died so young. She was a lavender wayndotte. I held her yesterday and she was fine. She was very timid and probably the lowest on the pecking order. None of the other chickens ever harmed her other than your typical peck. She would just get out of there way.

I'm sorry to hear about your pullet. What a lovely girl!
It can be hard to know why one has died without further investigation. If you still have the body, refrigerate it and send it to your state lab for analysis. You can look up your lab in the link below.

Alternatively, if you are up for it, you can do your own informal investigation, looking at the organs and reproductive system to see if you find anything. If you do your own, take photos and we'll try to help you with what you see. The video below is a professional necropsy, but it's very helpful with being able to identify various organs and how things should look.

https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...W9QPc7vW959xUMieEFOptG84QlnUyavjvxcf36cUGKutR

 

[Mimi1008]

Thank you for your message. I already buried her and I don’t think I would be able to do the necropsy.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I'm sorry about your girl. She was very beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen a Lavender Wyandotte!

I don't believe a temperature drop in the 30's could have been the culprit. Big girls, like her, would be quite comfortable. Sometimes these things just happen. Chickens seem to go from fine to critical very quickly. If she was not showing symptoms beforehand, and nothing else in the flock seems amiss, I would assume it was just an unfortunate event.

 

[Mimi1008]

I'm sorry about your girl. She was very beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen a Lavender Wyandotte!

I don't believe a temperature drop in the 30's could have been the culprit. Big girls, like her, would be quite comfortable. Sometimes these things just happen. Chickens seem to go from fine to critical very quickly. If she was not showing symptoms beforehand, and nothing else in the flock seems amiss, I would assume it was just an unfortunate event.

Everyone else is fine. Of course it would be the one that I was the closest to. I have two of this breed and and they are beautiful. The other one I named lil bit because she had a rough start and was smaller than the others her age. But now she is my biggest hen. If it was her that had passed I probably wouldn’t have been as surprised because had such a rough start in life.