My hen died suddenly, can you help me guess what happened?

[ZenHenMama]

My hen Copper died suddenly and unexpectedly. She seemed fine except for a few things. She had stopped laying eggs. Her comb started getting really pale and shrunken. She was eating and drinking ok and running around ok. After she died, I inspected her she did not seem to injured, but did notice that she had been having yellowish runny poop that I had not noticed in the days before. We had found her in one of the nest boxes after spending the night on the roost, according to the poop left behind. She had a little bit of food in her crop, dont think that was it. I dont think she was egg bound. I figured she stopped laying because its winter. Any ideas? My other two hens seem fine.

 

[Judy]

One common cause of death, usually in hatchery hens around 3 or 4 years old or oldeer, is internal laying, also called egg yolk peritonitis. The not laying eggs and the yellow stuff would seem to indicate this is at least a possible cause. Post #4 in this thread has several links to excellent information about this condition, which is unfortunately a fairly common condition: