Sudden death in otherwise healthy chicken?

[EllenLin]

I lost my white leghorn today. She was very healthy, running around, eating and drinking well. I let the chicken out today because it was warmer at 50 degrees. They had been in the shed for the past few days. The chickens went at around 12:30 p.m. Even when I checked the chicken pan around 1:00 p.m., I saw all the chickens looking good and lively. But at 1:30 p.m. my 8 month old white leghorn was laid dead. There was no injury, no discharge, and absolutely no sign of illness. She laid eggs almost everyday including today. I was heart-broken... She was such a sweet bird... Any advise will be highly appreciated!

 

[chickmama81]

So I have a buff Orpington that is a new mama she's got five checks she's very protective and a very good mother. her checks are just now week old and not quite big enough to get up into the coop at night by themselves so last night I went to the coop to pick up the baby chicks and put them up inside the coop with the rest of the chickens so the mama would go up there and found my other buff orphington, who was my favorite lady, dead!!! I was absolutely devastated. She appeared to be extremely healthy feathers were beautiful eating drinking and acting completely normal earlier in the day and four hours prior I saw her running around with the other chickens. I have no idea what happened to her! I examined her thoroughly looking for any signs of a fight. I thought maybe her and her mother hen got into it but honestly I've never seen any of the chickens pay any attention at all to those checks and she's the sweetest one in the flock . I found absolutely no clue on examination and I've no idea when she died I just know that I had seen her probably four hours prior. rigor mortis had already started to set in but her neck was very loose and the rest of her was stiff I don't know if that's because rigor mortis had not fully set in or if she had a broken neck or something. It's so bizarre and I'm so sad she was my favorite girl she loves to be held and she would fly and set up on my shoulder. I just don't know what happened and I wish I did. Unfortunately all of my girls except for my two americanus lay light brown eggs so I really can't tell who's laying what. I have seen her in the nesting box the last few days so I'm assuming she was laying unless she was just trying to lay an egg bound I don't know

Can chickens be scared to death? Literally lightning struck my backyard maybe 50 feet from the coop it was so loud and scared the crap out of all of us. Could this have given her a heart attack or something?

 

[shirley56]

Lost 2 chickens in 3 days. Found one sitting on the ground and this morning, one laying on the bottom of the roost. Seemed healthy but I am worried it is something that is contagious for the chickens. The rest of the flock seem fine, although they did also. I do not used medicated food and they do get scraps but mainly give them organic scraps from things.

 

[chicklet mcpoo]

Hi all,

I am reposting a question I put in introductions yesterday - I think this is a better spot. I lost a 2 year old RI Red hen yesterday from unknown causes. She was my best layer.   I let my chickens out to forage in the back yard all day, and the next morning she was dead in the nest box.

I've been trying to call local vets (no response until too late to necropsy), but the best info I got was from the feed store owner where I bought my chickens. He said that the most common cause of sudden death in an otherwise healthy hen was from being egg bound, which could be, because I don't think she'd been laying the last couple of days. I had just got in from out of town and my husband had been watching the chickens, so we aren't sure (he can't tell the eggs apart). 

Another thing that supposedly can happen is that a hen can get hit on the back, say from a dog attack, and since the internal organs are up against the spine they can be easily injured that way. My five year old may have grabbed her roughly on the back when trying to catch her, according to his siblings, which may or may not be the case, never know. 

The third thing the feed store guy said was that if a hen is turned upside down, sometimes they can aspirate digestive contents which can cause respiratory failure.

The thing that worries me is that when I examined her body, she had a lot of clear liquid draining from her nostrils. She hadn't been dead for more than an hour or two. I wonder if it was a respiratory infection. She wasn't coughing or sneezing or showing any other obvious symptoms, but she did start laying funny eggs a few weeks ago, some with wrinkles and others with bumps or calcium deposits on one end. I read online that that can be a sign of infectious bronchitis. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[chicklet mcpoo]

We have lost all breeds of chickens over the last year and a half. Every couple of months or so.No symptoms at all. Perfectly healthy looking and acting. Then I find them dead the next day! We have gone from 23 down to 10. I just found a black star in a nesting box. She looks like she laid an egg and died.Their weight is great too. I am stumped. Could they be passing something to each other?

 

[wilmaarena]

One of my orange girls (Buff Orington) was fine this afternoon. I let them all roam this morning in the yard. I found her on her side, her comb was purplish, her feet were extended and toes pointing out and she was dead. It was probably an hour that I had been in the coop and everyone seemed fine. We guess that they are around 8 years old and she was still laying eggs. There was no blood or sign of attack. What happened?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi
I'm sorry you lost a hen like that.
The only way to know what killed her is to send her off for a professional necropsy. State Ag Dept's usually have a diagnostics lab that can perform this service and it is usually not too expensive. Failing that, open her up yourself and have a look. Take photos of her insides and all her organs and we might be able to help you solve the mystery. Unfortunately, without being able to see inside the bird, we would only be guessing.

 

[wilmaarena]

Thank you! She is already buried. If it happens again, which I sure hope it doesn't, I will have a necropsy done.

 

[Maple228]

I just lost my first chicken, Stella, a Silver Laced Wyandotte (26 wks old). I am heartbroken and I feel guilty because I saw that she was not herself the past few days. She has been acting strange for the past 3 days and I noticed her alone in the coop while the rest of flock was outside free ranging. She had her mouth open a lot and I thought maybe she was hot or overheated? They have plenty of water and shade. I have a small flock 8 (now 7) and this is a new venture for me since end of April, so as much as I've been enjoying my chickens, (and some eggs!), I am now realizing just how much I do NOT know. I am not sure what happened and I don't what this means for the rest of the flock.

Any advise is welcome.

 

[Chicknorris291]

Hi all,

I have had a bizarre similar experience of sudden death in a few of my chickens. I had 4 Wyandotte hen chicks that I moved yesterday to a new cage, with new clean bedding, new clean food, and fresh water. The cage was cleaned, rinsed thoroughly, and set up with a heat lamp above. I live in Virginia where our summers are getting warm, but as they were only 4 weeks old I was told to keep light on. They had a chance to avoid the heat lamp, but when I came home this evening to check on them, 3 of the 4 had perished. They do not seem to have any parasites, food is new and doesn't seem mouldy. I recently switched from non-antibiotics Southern States food to non-medicated Tractor Supply food. I used large pine shavings that are dust free to bed them on. Kind of baffled at this. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

it may be mites 17 chickens of mine died from mites..they can get in a lot of way even with a clean coop, I suggest spraying coop with this mixture: 2 cups water. 1 cup cooking oil. 1 tablespoon of dish soap. Mix every use applie it once a day for 3-4 days should kill mites