Mysterious chicken death.

[epitidios]

I found a dead chicken inside the coop. The strange thing with it is that she was really vivid the last few days. I saw no evidence of the tape worm infection on her, she had no parasites on her feathers and her weight was normal. What i thing could be the reason for losing her is one of the following or a combination:

1) Too much heat. It is pretty warm here the last couple of days. The temperature is around 30 C (90 F) in the shade. So i guess in the sun it can be a couple of degrees more.

2) In the last few days i found blood stains on the eggs. One of them had quite a lot. Could it be her last egg?

3) The tape worms killed her. Even though she had no symptoms.

4) The rooster? or another chicken? killed her?

 

[duckyfromoz]

Without an autopsy- it would be hard to say for sure- I just lost a duck a few days ago- The first adult death in many years- it was a young bird- very healthy- so quite a shock. The most likely cause of her death was a red back spider bite !! I found a rather nasty looking red swollen area on her. I had been clearing away some rubbish the day before and found a number of them at the back of the yard.

Could she have been egg bound?? I know I checked for an internal egg with my duck- but could feel nothing there.

 

[cletus the rooster]

i had the same thing happen the other day at 130 everyone was fine and accounted for and at 530 when i went out to put up chicks i found one of my 8wk old BO under the coop dead with no physical marks to be seen they had water all day and shade the 5 other chicks (all in with momma) seem to be fine any ideas would be welcomed it was the biggest one i dont know what happened

 

[WingingIt]

I lost two fairly early on after getting our chickens and we were never able to figure out what happened. I lost one then the next week had another one die. Couldn't find any bites or punctures, they had all been eating fine and running around like normal. The good news is that it's been about a year and I haven't lost another one since then.

 

[rancher hicks]

Please excuse me for saying this, but why do we get surprised? My Aunt was never sick a day that I know of (40) and one day she dropped like a ton of bricks and was dead before she hit the floor.
I am sorry for your loss, just the same and my comment if only to make you feel better that it was no fault of your own, is very little consolation, I sure.

Wishing you a speedy recovery from your loss

Rancher

 

[epitidios]

My vet told me that it probably had been stung by a bee or something, which could also explain the blood in the egg. Also heat could be the killer. The temperature is between 90-95 in the shade. I measured the temperature in sun and it is 100-105 F.