Sudden Chicken Death

[Ejmaggz]

So last night I checked my coop cam like I always do and I didn’t see 2 of my chickens on the roosts. This morning I saw my Away Cemani Roo in the run before the coop was opened. So he must have spent the night outside the coop, in the run, which has never happened before.

I found my Ayam Cemani hen, dead, inside the coop, close to the coop door. I’m pretty sure that’s why my Roo, Elvis didn’t go in last night. I’m thinking she died before he went to bed and he didn’t wanna go in with her right there on the coop floor.

I know chickens can suddenly die for many reasons… but I am just confused what happened to my sweet girl, Moira Rose.

I hatched her in December 2021 so she was only 6 months old. She hadn’t laid her first egg yet which I figured would be any day. My coop is secure, my run is secure, my run is covered, I don’t free range due to bird flu right now, we don’t have any wild waterfowl on our property, I do my best to wear my dedicated shoes in the run and i’m the only one that’s been going in the run.

The only thing I can even remotely think of is one of my chickens has had some green poop, but it has been going on for a while and everything I’ve read said it’s normal. She has a tiny bit of poop on her feathers near her vent that was green, making me think it was her poop. Also one of the chicks I hatched with her dropped dead at like 6 or 8 weeks, when it were still in a brooder.

Any other thoughts or ideas?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The main things that come to mind that will make a healthy looking chicken die pretty quickly are fatty liver syndrome, heart problems, aspiration of liquids, and breaking their neck when frightened and fly into the wall.

Do you feed any fatty treats like sunflower seeds? Chickens do often just die. Some look sick before and many do not. They are good at hiding illness. Sorry you lost her.

 

[Ejmaggz]

The main things that come to mind that will make a healthy looking chicken die pretty quickly are fatty liver syndrome, heart problems, aspiration of liquids, and breaking their neck when frightened and fly into the wall.

Do you feed any fatty treats like sunflower seeds? Chickens do often just die. Some look sick before and many do not. They are good at hiding illness. Sorry you lost her.

Thank you. I do give some scratch grain, not every day. Not a lot of it but just for a treat and to have something to do, especially since they can’t free range. But she was so young, only 6 months. That’s what boggles my mind.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you. I do give some scratch grain, not every day. Not a lot of it but just for a treat and to have something to do, especially since they can’t free range. But she was so young, only 6 months. That’s what boggles my mind.

Since yours was younger it may have been some birth defect that affected internal organs. Things like a bad liver or kidneys can take a while to kill a bird sometimes.

 

[Mrs. K]

I agree with oldhenslikesdogs. I have kept chickens for years, well decades. I will lose birds, very early after the hatch - they call it failure to thrive. And then I have had chickens die about 5-6 months, exactly how you describe, fine and then dead. And that phenomena is called sudden death.

An old chicken lady told me, it happens, and she thought it was a genetic defect, in which as the bird approaches full size, the body cannot keep up. But it could easily be heart failure, or something else. But I don't think it is preventable, I think it just happens.

Once, I lost one hen a month for three months, was getting nervous, and never lost another one for years.

You are really doing nothing wrong. Chickens are hatched fast and furiously out, and not all of them are long term life spans. Sometimes I think people post on here with highly exaggerated ideas of what a normal life is for a chicken.

The third time you will get just sudden death is around 3-4 years especially for the production birds. They just don't generally have a long life.

This bothers a lot of people, but it does not bother me. I give my birds good food, fresh air, clean water, and the best protection that I can manage. I do not expect them to live forever, but I do expect to keep a flock until I die. The circle of life, lets birds go on, and birds come in.

And maybe it is because I am older, but a 'feeling fine, and a sudden death' well doesn't sound too bad.

Mrs K

 

[Ejmaggz]

I agree with oldhenslikesdogs. I have kept chickens for years, well decades. I will lose birds, very early after the hatch - they call it failure to thrive. And then I have had chickens die about 5-6 months, exactly how you describe, fine and then dead. And that phenomena is called sudden death.

An old chicken lady told me, it happens, and she thought it was a genetic defect, in which as the bird approaches full size, the body cannot keep up. But it could easily be heart failure, or something else. But I don't think it is preventable, I think it just happens.

Once, I lost one hen a month for three months, was getting nervous, and never lost another one for years.

You are really doing nothing wrong. Chickens are hatched fast and furiously out, and not all of them are long term life spans. Sometimes I think people post on here with highly exaggerated ideas of what a normal life is for a chicken.

The third time you will get just sudden death is around 3-4 years especially for the production birds. They just don't generally have a long life.

This bothers a lot of people, but it does not bother me. I give my birds good food, fresh air, clean water, and the best protection that I can manage. I do not expect them to live forever, but I do expect to keep a flock until I die. The circle of life, lets birds go on, and birds come in.

And maybe it is because I am older, but a 'feeling fine, and a sudden death' well doesn't sound too bad.

Mrs K

Thank you for this reply. It actually makes me feel a little better. It’s hard when there is no signs of impending death. I’m new to chickens so still experiencing a lot of firsts. We had to cull a newly hatched chick for the first time and that was difficult too.

Thank you.

 

[livesimplecolorado]

So last night I checked my coop cam like I always do and I didn’t see 2 of my chickens on the roosts. This morning I saw my Away Cemani Roo in the run before the coop was opened. So he must have spent the night outside the coop, in the run, which has never happened before.

I found my Ayam Cemani hen, dead, inside the coop, close to the coop door. I’m pretty sure that’s why my Roo, Elvis didn’t go in last night. I’m thinking she died before he went to bed and he didn’t wanna go in with her right there on the coop floor.

I know chickens can suddenly die for many reasons… but I am just confused what happened to my sweet girl, Moira Rose.

I hatched her in December 2021 so she was only 6 months old. She hadn’t laid her first egg yet which I figured would be any day. My coop is secure, my run is secure, my run is covered, I don’t free range due to bird flu right now, we don’t have any wild waterfowl on our property, I do my best to wear my dedicated shoes in the run and i’m the only one that’s been going in the run.

The only thing I can even remotely think of is one of my chickens has had some green poop, but it has been going on for a while and everything I’ve read said it’s normal. She has a tiny bit of poop on her feathers near her vent that was green, making me think it was her poop. Also one of the chicks I hatched with her dropped dead at like 6 or 8 weeks, when it were still in a brooder.

Any other thoughts or ideas?

I'm sorry for your loss. The only thing I can say that might make it better is that much like people, some chickens just have hidden genetics that causes them to get sick or die for no rhyme or reason. We had a beautiful little girl (buff Orpington) that was fine one day and the next day, dead. It was a mystery to me as well. She was barely a year old.

I am sure you did everything right, sometimes things happen. Hang in there.

 

[SmiYa0126]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your girl

How green was the poo? Was it more like a stain on your bedding? Someone was starving.

 

[rayrose]

A lot of people are losing chickens, because of the intense
heat and heat index that most of us are experiencing this summer.
Chickens can't sweat and become most vulnerable without some
way to cool down. Sometimes it happens quickly, while other times
it lingers. They just can't recover from the debilitation. I've lost three so far this summer, even though I take extra precautions. If you think it might be something else, a necropsy should be performed.

 

[Ejmaggz]

A lot of people are losing chickens, because of the intense
heat and heat index that most of us are experiencing this summer.
Chickens can't sweat and become most vulnerable without some
way to cool down. Sometimes it happens quickly, while other times
it lingers. They just can't recover from the debilitation. I've lost three so far this summer, even though I take extra precautions. If you think it might be something else, a necropsy should be performed.

The heat has been terrible! But this happened in Early June. We barely had 70 degrees here then. So I know it wasn’t the heat.