Sudden Chicken Death Syndrome?

[chickndays]

Are there any probable death causes for what seemed to be a perfectly healthy hen the day before?
I found my gold laced Wyandotte (18 mos) dead flat on her back this morning in the run. This was one of my reliable layers (every second or third day) and had no symptoms at all yesterday - doing all the normal chicken things and lively/alert. I think she last laid two days ago. I did a quick look over and didn't see any wounds/causes of death, (but also tried not to handle much since I'm pregnant). I also can't be sure whether hen died last night or early this morning. Rest of hens seem normal.
They are all fully enclosed and no roosters.

 

[azygous]

There is indeed a thing call sudden death syndrome. It can strike an actively laying hen, and the cause is low blood calcium. The hen has a heart attack as her body is drawing on her last calcium reserves due to not having adequate calcium to both build an egg shell and keep her heart beating.

It's sad you lost your hen.

 

[chickndays]

There is indeed a thing call sudden death syndrome. It can strike an actively laying hen, and the cause is low blood calcium. The hen has a heart attack as her body is drawing on her last calcium reserves due to not having adequate calcium to both build an egg shell and keep her heart beating.

It's sad you lost your hen.

Wow, I didn't know that. That might explain things more. I did have oyster shell available for hens.
Thanks.

 

[azygous]

Oyster shell often isn't adequate if a hen is having trouble absorbing it. That can happen for a number of reasons, but we don't know it's happening until there's a crisis.

 

[chickndays]

Are there more digestible calcium sources?

 

[azygous]

Oyster shell remains the best all around source of calcium for layers. Rather than increase or switch to other sources of calcium, I recommend increasing vitamin D to enhance calcium absorption.

At this time of year, hens can run into absorption issues due to shortening daylight, molt which stresses their systems and causes a drop off in appetite. We see egg quality issues at this time.

One source of vitamin D is actual sunlight. Make sure the hens get plenty of exposure and are able to stretch out their wings and sunbathe.

I feed canned mackerel once a week to increase vitamin D and protein to make up for what their bodies lose to feather growth. There is also D-3 capsules which you can use at this time of year until they get through molt.

The most easily digested form of calcium is calcium citrate, but we only use these tablets when a hen is in crisis, such as egg binding. It works fast and I always keep a bottle in the run in case I see a hen showing signs of struggling with an egg or if I see she's laying shell-less or thin shell eggs. It's not meant to replace oyster shell, however, and shouldn't be used longer than a couple of weeks. This is what I buy.

 

[TheDandyLion]

@azygous If you were to use vitamin D capsules what IU dosage would you recommend?

 

[azygous]

The lowest you can select from.

 

[Anon112]

I found a (theoretically) healthy hen dead a few years back. It was such a shock. Just like with people, I imagine there are plenty of "invisible" things that can happen inside a chicken's body like aneurysm, heart attack, etc.

Unless you have something similar happen with another hen, there's probably little you can do to determine cause of death. There are agencies that will do an autopsy if you're concerned that her death could be something that could harm the rest of the flock.

I'm really sorry for your loss. I remember finding my Vera (the first chick I ever hatched on my chicken adventure) and just staring at her totally dumbfounded.