Squeeble (Hen) Death

[RiceHolisticGarden]

Hey BYC,

Unfortunately one of our young hens, Squeeble, passed away suddenly today. Earlier in the day she was noticed to be a bit lethargic momentarily but she was otherwise completely normal. She was almost 6 months old, and was a sex-link chicken. There's no signs of physical trauma or otherwise anything abnormal upon examination.

She was loved by all at the garden here.

Looking into next steps, we were considering obtaining a necropsy and cremating her. We are in the Houston area and wanted to know if you all knew of places that offered these services. Currently, one of my coworkers have looked into options but we wanted to ask you all too.

(I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, so I apologize if it is)

Attached below is one of the last pictures we got of her, which was submitted to the BYC Calendar Contest.

Thanks y'all.

 

[Tookie]

I'm so sorry she passed.
@azygous, @Wyorp Rock, and @Eggcessive should know of places to send in necropsies.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry about your pullet.
Double bag the body and place it in refrigeration.
You can find your state lab here:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

 

[RiceHolisticGarden]

Thank you @Tookie and @Wyorp Rock for the timely responses. After a thorough discussion, we decided to forgo the necropsy to cremate her. We don't suspect she had any contagious/infectious diseases given how she has been, though we have read online they can hide illness well. We thoroughly examined her external features but they were normal. Additionally, the other pullets she was with have been doing well (fingers crossed) so we don't believe what affected Squeeble is affecting the others. Online, we read about sudden chicken death syndrome, which could be caused by heart-related issues, being egg-bound, etc. Additionally, we learned sex-link chickens do not tend to live longer than a few years, and they tend to develop reproductive issues as they age due to their egg production.