Mystery death

[srfrgrl]

I am hoping someone can shed some light on my situation although I won't be upset if no one can. I came home today to find one of my barred rocks dead in the coop. There was no sign of a struggle, she was perfectly fine this morning, no blood, nothing. I am beyond sad. She was one of the feistier ones, less than 3 years old and I would not have guessed she would go like this. Does anyone have any thoughts? I buried her...deep in the ground and with a board over the filled in hole just to make sure if she had some disease I did not know about then none of the other chickens could get to her. Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
Judy

 

[Folly's place]

Birds try to act normal until they just can't, so recognizing signs of illness can be difficult. Only by doing post-mortem exams will you know why most birds die, unless it's obviously a predator attack. I post every dead bird so I know what's going on in my flock. Many hens, especially high producing types, will develop bad health issues by three years of age. Mary

 

[srfrgrl]

Thank you Mary.