One dead chicken--seems to be random

[redmj]

Hey, everyone. We have 6 black Australorp hens. 5 now. All from the same flock and are a little over 2 years old. Today, seemingly randomly, I found one dead in our coop. In the last 48h, I've given them cuttings of a watermelon, a stalk of celery, and trimmings of raw carrots. I've not had any kind of issues with it previously, so I'm wondering what could have caused it?

Rigamortis had set in, but I know she was alive this morning. All the other five are showing no sign of being sick, nor did she before she died. There was no obvious sign of death, other than maybe a larger than normal crop that was a little squishy as well? Picture is attached. No mold in food, no injury, still had water, no sign of predator. There were quite a bit of ants, which I had noticed we had gotten a lot in the run where the watermelon was, but none were in the coop.

I do realize necropsy would be best, but with two kids, decided not to do more than clean coop out and not traumatize them being so young (also added DE around coop). I'll keep an eye out for others getting sick, but like I said, no sign before this one. It might also be worth mentioning we had a rather loud rainstorm randomly in the middle of the day with plenty of thunder?

Anyway, just wanted to ask people that have more experience than me to see if anybody has had similar experiences.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sorry you lost your hen. Unfortunately chickens sometimes just die. I've seen healthy looking hens be dead by the end of the day. I always suspect either a heart issue or internal bleeding from trauma, tumor, or fatty liver. I would only start to worry if multiple birds die suddenly, or it involves a respiratory issue.