Sudden death- again! Any ideas?

[jamieF]

A little while ago my sweet splash Andalusian, Sunny Blue (about 10-11 months old), died in my arms. I went out to the coop and she was sitting in an odd place out in the run and didn't get up when the other 17 (various breeds) ran to me expecting their daily handful or two of scratch. I went over to her and noticed her comb and wattles were very pale and she looked sleepy. She startled a little at a loud noise and tried to stand up but was very uncoordinated. She wasn't panting or gaping or anything. I picked her up and within a few seconds her head lolled and she stopped breathing, then convulsed and died. I hadn't been out earlier so I don't know how long she had been listless and pale (the kids let the chickens out earlier but I don't think she went out), tho she was fine yesterday. No signs at all of trauma, nothing abnormal. Can't feel an egg and don't know if she laid one today or not. Crop feels fine. She's not overweight or underweight that I can tell.

Maybe it's completely unrelated, but around this time last year, the same thing happened with two of my buff orpingtons, who were at that time also around 10 months old, when they died suddenly within 2 HOURS of each other. They were penned up and I had just seen them 5-10 minutes before totally fine, then when I passed the pen suddenly one was dead. I let the other 5 hens out while I tried to figure out what had happened, but I was thinking that it was some kind of heart problem or something. Then a few hours later I realized that I hadn't seen one of the other BO's for a while and went looking for her, and found her dead under a tree. Then I realized that it had to be some kind of toxin or something, although despite hours and hours of research I never could figure out what could have happened. The other 4 stayed fine, thankfully. At that point I had already ordered new chicks a few weeks before, and they soon arrived and other than a few hawk deaths before we fortified their new run everybody has been fine. So now with Sunny dying suddenly I just don't know what to think! I think I'm going to see if I can find a place around here (Indiana) that can do a necropsy because I'm so worried about my other chickens! Any ideas? Sorry for the long post. I'm at a loss to explain this! Thank you for any help anyone can provide. Oh, no moldy feed or anything, either! Thanks so much! Jamie

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Your best option to have a necropsy done. Check with your State Dept of Agriculture. They should have a link to your State Veterinarian. i'm lucky to live close to UC Davis which provides free necropsies, and they do a very extensive and thorough job. i found out about them by calling our state vet. You will want to keep the chicken's body refrigerated (not frozen) until you can get her in somewhere.

It very well may be something like a heart attack, cancer, stroke, something not contagious. If it was contagious, you would see others getting ill or dying.

i'm so sorry about Sunny Blue. It's always so hard losing our babies.

 

[jamieF]

Thanks Colleen, I'll definitely try that. I worked for a vet years ago so knew not to put her in the freezer, but that's usually what people think they're supposed to do. She's wrapped up and snug in the bottom drawer of our old garage fridge. She really was a sweet and pretty girl, definitely living up to her name!
Thanks again- Jamie

 

[wekiva bird]

so sorry