Orpington death

[Calm Creek Chickens]

We got four buff Orpingtons and the where all doing amazing and grow strong and healthy and turned out we had three roosters and one hen. We where eight weeks in and the one hen started walking slower and not eating or drinking so we tried helping and she ended up dead in the corner of the run dead on her stomach looking like she was sleeping. I and wasn’t sure what happened to her. Wanted any ideas to what happened and how to prevent this in the future. Thanks

 

[BarnyardChaos]

We got four buff Orpingtons and the where all doing amazing and grow strong and healthy and turned out we had three roosters and one hen. We where eight weeks in and the one hen started walking slower and not eating or drinking so we tried helping and she ended up dead in the corner of the run dead on her stomach looking like she was sleeping. I and wasn’t sure what happened to her. Wanted any ideas to what happened and how to prevent this in the future. Thanks

So sorry for your loss! We need more information to help.
How old was she?
Was she laying eggs yet?
Were there any other symptoms - behavior, appearance, body condition, color of comb & wattle, did her vent look OK, was her crop swollen? (can you be more specific?)
What is their coop and run like?
What do you feed them?
Have they had access to anything outside of the run?
What did you do to try to help?
Where in the world are you located?

 

[Calm Creek Chickens]

So sorry for your loss! We need more information to help.
How old was she?
Was she laying eggs yet?
Were there any other symptoms - behavior, appearance, body condition, color of comb & wattle, did her vent look OK, was her crop swollen? (can you be more specific?)
What is their coop and run like?
What do you feed them?
Have they had access to anything outside of the run?
What did you do to try to help?
Where in the world are you located?

8 weeks old
Not laying
She didn’t have to much of a comb but that was normal
Her vent was all good and clear
She was a little slow and tired her last day
No swollen crop it was normal
They have a big coop an free range most of the day
Dumor starter feed
She didn’t have access to anything harmful
Help her eat and drink
Melbourne Florida USA

 

[BarnyardChaos]

@azygous
@Wyorp Rock
@Eggcessive
Any ideas?

 

[Calm Creek Chickens]

@azygous
@Wyorp Rock
@Eggcessive

This was her

 

[Weeg]

Do you feed any treats? If so, how many, how often?

 

[azygous]

hen started walking slower and not eating or drinking so we tried helping and she ended up dead in the corner of the run dead on her stomach

Please help me to understand this sentence. Expand on it. There's an important clue in there.

At age eight weeks, chicks (and a female baby chick is a "pullet" not a hen, and a male chick is a cockerel) are curious, mildly adventurous, and clueless to danger. They have an instinct about predators, but their curiosity about things on the ground, where chicken joy abounds, can lead them to grief rather quickly. I'll give you some examples of how my own chicks met early demise through curiosity and making bad judgements.

I was sitting in the run watching a couple of eight-week old chicks returning from free-ranging. They came into the run where I was sitting, and both approached me. I looked down and noticed one was wobbly, then she fell over, paralyzed. It all happened so suddenly, one minute fine, the next, in dire straits. She died a few hours later.

I searched madly for three days, covering every inch of yard where I had seen the chicks. Then my eye caught the log splitting machine. I had a sudden flash of memory where I'd seen the chicks exploring under it. Then the idea occurred to me that the machine leaked hydraulic fluid on the ground and I wondered if there was a connection. Upon consulting Mr Google, I leaned that petroleum distillates are extremely toxic to chickens and the symptoms of the neurological damage included all the symptoms the chick had. It also explained why I was seeing several cases of lameness in older chickens.

More recently, I had two nine-week old chicks die from being poisoned by a caterpillar that had fallen from the pines over the run. I found them right near the caterpillar, a strange thing with spines. I deduced they had give the thing a curious peck and received lethal stings that worked at high speed through their nervous systems. Here is the thread about it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-have-nearly-killed-two-of-my-chicks.1390680/

I strongly suggest you go over every inch of ground where your chicks were ranging and look for anything of the nature of the things that killed my chicks.

 

[gtaus]

Sorry for your loss.

This past week, I too had a beautiful 3 year old Golden Buff Orpington die within hours of me noticing something strange in her behavior. In the morning, when I opened the pop door, she was slow to run out the door. That was a little unusual, but she looked in good health. She was doing OK later in the afternoon, but in the evening, when I closed the chickens back into the coop for the night, she was missing. I found her, passed away, under some brushes out in the chicken run. She was perfectly fine the night before, so her death is still a mystery to me. I suspect some type of poisoning, maybe from something she ate out in the run? But all my other chickens are doing fine.

It's great that you noticed something was off with your pullet, but sometimes there is nothing we can do to help them. I have been able to treat and save a few birds, but there is always the sick/injured chicken that is not going to survive despite my interventions. I suggest you concentrate on the basics with clean food and water, and then look for anything around the coop/run that may have caused harm to your pullet. If they free range, walk the grounds to see if you can find anything suspicious.

It's hard to lose an animal under your care. We put so much time and effort in keeping them safe and healthy. I hope this was only a one-time situation and the rest of the flock is doing OK. Again, sorry for your loss.

 

[Calm Creek Chickens]

Do you feed any treats? If so, how many, how often?

Not when she was alive we just stared feeding very little amounts of treats.