Hi all, I have lost two chickens since January without any obvious cause. Would really like some input on possible cause for the second death (today). As background, two months ago, I found one hen (2 yrs old) dead on the coop floor in the morning. She had not appeared sick or lethargic, and was laying eggs just fine. There was no trauma anywhere on her body and it was a total mystery what caused it. For the next two months all has been normal with the flock - no hens look or behave sick. Normal dropping, normal appetites, etc. Then today, another hen suddenly died and I saw most of it happen. Here's what I saw:
She was fine, running around free-ranging this afternoon, appeared totally healthy. When I was putting the hens back in the secure run at sunset, most ran right inside but I noticed one hen was laying on the ground, kind of puffed/splayed out (almost like doing a dirt bath). She tried to get up and flapped a little, but was acting like one side of her body was suddenly paralyzed. One wing and foot would move, but not the other side. She was breathing heavy, almost like panting through her beak. I picked her up to see if she had injured her foot or wing, but they looked ok, so I placed her inside the run area to observe her more. She just laid there very still for maybe 5 minutes, breathing heavy, and then appearing to gasp for air at times, her head was hanging low, her eyes would close, then they would spring open and she try to move a little (with her good side) but would just spin a little. I ran inside for literally ONE minute, to grab my phone (to research) and to get some treats so that I could lure the rest of the flock up into the coop and away from the sick chicken. When I got back to the coop, the hen was dead. She had moved about two feet from where she was before (which appeared to be quite a distance given that she couldn't move very well) and she was laying on her back with her feet in the air. I saw no trauma, vent looked clean, eyes were clear, feathers were in great shape, etc. She was only about 10 months old.
The whole incident took maybe 10 minutes? Does this sound like sudden death syndrome? Or heart failure? Or something else? Contagious Disease? I would not normally be worried about communicable disease given how things happened, but since I lost the first chicken about two months ago, and have no idea why, it does make me wonder. Any thoughts would be really appreciated.
She was fine, running around free-ranging this afternoon, appeared totally healthy. When I was putting the hens back in the secure run at sunset, most ran right inside but I noticed one hen was laying on the ground, kind of puffed/splayed out (almost like doing a dirt bath). She tried to get up and flapped a little, but was acting like one side of her body was suddenly paralyzed. One wing and foot would move, but not the other side. She was breathing heavy, almost like panting through her beak. I picked her up to see if she had injured her foot or wing, but they looked ok, so I placed her inside the run area to observe her more. She just laid there very still for maybe 5 minutes, breathing heavy, and then appearing to gasp for air at times, her head was hanging low, her eyes would close, then they would spring open and she try to move a little (with her good side) but would just spin a little. I ran inside for literally ONE minute, to grab my phone (to research) and to get some treats so that I could lure the rest of the flock up into the coop and away from the sick chicken. When I got back to the coop, the hen was dead. She had moved about two feet from where she was before (which appeared to be quite a distance given that she couldn't move very well) and she was laying on her back with her feet in the air. I saw no trauma, vent looked clean, eyes were clear, feathers were in great shape, etc. She was only about 10 months old.
The whole incident took maybe 10 minutes? Does this sound like sudden death syndrome? Or heart failure? Or something else? Contagious Disease? I would not normally be worried about communicable disease given how things happened, but since I lost the first chicken about two months ago, and have no idea why, it does make me wonder. Any thoughts would be really appreciated.
