Sudden death of healthy, 2.5 year old hen! Please help.

[BabyJam]

We had a 2.5 year old hen who was healthy until she was found dead this morning in the coop. She had no symptoms of disease, even yesterday evening. She had been eating, drinking well, and laying eggs regularly. This morning, when we went to let the hens out of the coop, this specific hen was found dead on the floor of the coop in a pool of liquid, which looks like water (we are postulating it's urine). Underneath the perch she had been sleeping on, there was also a pool of similar liquid. The only thing abnormal we found were these weird pools of liquid as described above. We are very sad that she has passed away and at the same time concerned about what this could be...as we don't want to wake up tomorrow morning and find even more hens dead. She was 1 of our 5 hens. Any input or ideas of what this could be and what we can do?

 

[beb444]

I'm sorry for your loss!!! It is always so hard
I was reading facts about chickens the other day and it said that chickens do not pee, but their pee gets combined with their poop and when they poop it's a combination of the two. Not sure if that's true or not, but if it is I'm not sure the liquid could be pee. Could it have been a very watery poo?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry about your loss. Was your hen still laying regularly? There are several conditions such as cancer, internal laying, and egg yolk peritonitis that can cause ascites or fluid to accumulate in the abdomen from liver failure. If you can preserve her body by refrigerating it, you can take or ship her body to the state vet for a necropsy. Here is a link for that:
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

You can also open her abdomen yourself, and look at the contents, for internal laying, spots and color of the liver, open the intestines to look for worms or blood, open the gizzard, and take pictures that you can share here for advice.