Phoenix died this morning--why?

[Spotted_Owl]

This morning our phoenix was lying dead in the coop, eyes closed, legs stretched out, no signs of trauma. She was pointed towards the door to the run, it looked like she was about to head out. Yesterday, my son mentioned that her comb and face seemed dark, but I never followed up on it. Any ideas what could have happened? We just came back from the county fair about a week ago, so it's possible that we were exposed to something, but if so, are we about to lose more birds? Kind of a sad morning...

 

[rcentner]

I am sorry to hear about your loss. I hear that when chickens die suddenly it could be heart related. The only way you will know is a necropsy. I lost a chicken last year, the day after christmas, and she died similarly. Christmas morning I noticed her comb was dark, we were gone all day christmas day. The next morning I found her in the coop looking very bad, so I brought her inside to warm up and gave her some Karo syrup (I figured she was hypoglycemic cause she obviously hadn't eaten that morning) and about an hour later she passed.
I was worried that it would be transmissible to my other chickens, but she was the only one that passed. I hope this is the case for you. sorry again about your loss.

 

[Spotted_Owl]

Thanks. I hope it's just an isolated case. It's our first chicken to die (we're still new at this) and it just feels a bit sudden.