She just died! :-\

[Dianekw]

My guess would be that she could have died from Fatty Liver disease.
It seems like you feed a lot of treats which can lead to being over weight quick.
This is just a guess but this is all too common.

I highly recommend you stop feeding all of these extras and if you feel the need to continue some treats to limit them to once a week and only a tablespoon full amount per bird.

Feeding ONLY a complete balanced poultry feed really is better for the health of your birds.

I might buy that if there was an ounce of fat on her. She was SKINNY...I was thinking she might be UNDERweight. Besides...I'm not sure how cucumber peels, apple peels, carrot tops and cabbage leaves is gonna make a chicken fat. I realize that the pellets are "complete" and "balanced", but they are by no means "natural"...birds in the wild dont have access to pellets...they eat bugs and plants and whatever they can find, and while it may not be quite as "balanced" as the pellets, it's certainly more organic and natural. The occasional rice and bread that they get is minimal...if I give em a cup of rice once every 3 or 4 weeks...divided by 12 chickens, they each get a little over a tablespoon...hardly "too much treats". When I look back at what my grandparents fed their chickens...mine eat WAY better, and are much more healthy and more pampered. The three roosters I have had processed so far have had SO little fat on them...I think that's a good indication that the rest of the flock is also healthy

 

[Dianekw]

Chickens can die suddenly with no warning. This is why it's a good idea to do a postmortem (necropsy) on the body right afterward. Most often you will discover the reason the chicken died.

Were the chickens given anything to eat that was chunky and may have gotten stuck in her airway? Once I was feeding my flock cherry tomatoes and suddenly an older hen began to race around in a panic, then she keeled over. I ran to her and shook her and the tomato popped out of her throat. If I hadn't been there, she would have choked to death.

Sometimes when a young chicken dies it's due to genetic issues catching up to them such as underdeveloped organs, heart, lungs.

nothing chunky that she could have choked on. nothing in her mouth/throat

 

[Dianekw]

I've read that when they die looking as you put it 'a rubber chicken', flat on their backs, legs in the air, it's from a heart attack. Chickens like humans and other animals can have heart defects that lead to sudden death.

Please don't think that removing the feathered hormone from the flock upset them. Sometimes they just die. Chickens are very good at hiding the fact that they are sick. In the wild, sick=dead as in some other wild animal's lunch.Once they get to the point where we notice they are ill, often it's too late to help them.

Have to agree about Buff O's tho. They pork on the weight easily. When I had them I had to put my girls on a diet, and even then when I had the older hens butchered, they had more fat under their skin then I would have suspected they had.

She was skinny though...not a porker(I do have one of those and I watch what she gets treat-wise).

 

[chickenmomma16]

What breed was she?

 

[Dianekw]

What breed was she?

1/2 buff orp and 1/2 EExEE cross(unknown original breeds)

 

[microchick]

If she was thin then I would look at a secondary cause of death. Possibly a reproductive cancer or infection that slowly smoldered until she finally weakened and her heart gave out.

I had a hen that died suddenly at the age of one year. Since I have Marek's in my flock I'm always telling myself when one died that the cause of death was related to MD. But I didn't buy that diagnosis with this bird. She was thin but not overly skinny and had shown no sign of being ill. I had never done a necropsy on one of my birds but I put on my big girl panties and opened her up. Sure enough, she had a huge wad of hard purulent material on her left ovary. She had a festering infection in her ovary and Fallopian tube that took her life. Was it hard to open my hen up? Yep but I was glad I did because I knew what killed her wasn't Marek's related but just a common problem that can strike down any hen.

 

[Morgsgirl]

My Charlotte passed yesterday morning. 2 1/2 years old, black sex link. She was laying soft eggs here and there and had one she couldn't pass. She was my sweet precious girl. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Dianekw]

My Charlotte passed yesterday morning. 2 1/2 years old, black sex link. She was laying soft eggs here and there and had one she couldn't pass. She was my sweet precious girl. I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry about your Charlotte too! It sucks to lose one of the flock so young...this was our first "unplanned death" in our flock and it just kinda knocked the wind outta me. I thought my girls would die of old age! ...or at least IN old age...long after they stopped laying eggs... :-\ I was SO not expecting such a young and healthy bird to just up and keel over.