Our first casualty 😥😥

[Soujrnr]

I came out to the coop this morning and found our beloved Nina dead in the nest where they all lay their eggs. We have no idea what happened. She spent multiple hours in the nest yesterday, but we didn't think much of it. I inspected her completely and found no sign of bugs, and no predators could have gotten to her. She gave no signs of any problems either. She free ranged with the other girls most of the day. Her abdomen was very hot to the touch, but she is stiff as a board. Could that be poisoning of some kind??

Yesterday morning, I found a big chunk of what I would guess to be vomit on top of their water bucket, but no idea who that came from.

I took a couple pictures of her and of the vomit for you all to see. We are clueless. All the other girls are their normal happy selves. The picture of her is just to show the discoloration, which may be normal. It's below her neck more near the big hump on her chest. Sorry for my lack of anatomically correct nomenclature.

 

[nuthatched]

Sorry for your loss.
Chickens don't vomit so it's likely diarrhea. Unless you perform a necropsy, it will be tough to say what the problem is

 

[Soujrnr]

It's a LOT of diarrhea then. Is that typical?? It's way more in volume than any other pooping I've seen them do.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. How old was she? Has she been laying eggs? Did she seem to be molting? Her keel bone (Breast bone or sternum) was very prominent which can look that way if they are skinny. The purple coloring is where her blood pooled after death and is normal. Most state vets can perform a necropsy/autopsy on a body if you keep it cold, not frozen, and take it to the state lab. Chickens may vomit if they have a crop disorder, but don’t normally throw up. I agree that looks like a very full dropping. Here is where to find the state vets:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

 

[Soujrnr]

She was almost two years old. To the best of our knowledge she's been laying normally. We did see a drop-off of one or two eggs over the last week or so, but no abnormal behavior.

We haven't seen any molting with her yet. Only our Black Australorp has started shedding feathers.

 

[Eggcessive]

If you are up to it, and can open the abdomen yourself to take pictures of the organs, that can sometimes help if we can see the organs. The state vet necropsy is much more thorough. This video shows the labeled organs, and we really just need to see the major organs, color of the liver, spleen, intestines, excessive Amy of fat, and eggs or the oviduct, and if there is any fluid that comes out of the belly.