Sudden death of pullet

[Ajp23]

Hello all, happy Sunday. We’ve lost a hen today, very suddenly and I’m wondering what could have happened. She is a new layer, started laying about two weeks ago and had laid about five eggs since then with no apparent issue. Her most recent egg came yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday she was her usual spunky self. This morning she came out of the coop and ate some food/drank water. She seemed fairly normal. Around 10:00 am, I went out to check for eggs and found her laying near the waterer, unable to move and breathing heavily.

We moved her to a crate in the garage and she deteriorated rapidly, she died by 3:00 pm. She had absolutely no apparent symptoms prior to this morning but in her crate she had diarrhea, and did nothing but lay on her side prior to passing. We checked for a bound egg issue but didn’t come upon anything. No visible injuries either.

What could have happened? If Mareks, could it be so sudden?

TLDR: hen died suddenly with no prior symptoms. Can marek’s take over that quickly?

 

[Debbie292d]

So sorry for your loss. I know of nothing that kills a chicken that fast. I would tend to think she had a heart problem perhaps. Again, sorry. It's hard sometimes to understand.

Would you consider getting her to a vet or lab for a necropsy? It could help you know for sure, especially if it IS something else that you could help the rest of your chickens avoid.

 

[CloneFly]

Hello all, happy Sunday. We’ve lost a hen today, very suddenly and I’m wondering what could have happened. She is a new layer, started laying about two weeks ago and had laid about five eggs since then with no apparent issue. Her most recent egg came yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday she was her usual spunky self. This morning she came out of the coop and ate some food/drank water. She seemed fairly normal. Around 10:00 am, I went out to check for eggs and found her laying near the waterer, unable to move and breathing heavily.

We moved her to a crate in the garage and she deteriorated rapidly, she died by 3:00 pm. She had absolutely no apparent symptoms prior to this morning but in her crate she had diarrhea, and did nothing but lay on her side prior to passing. We checked for a bound egg issue but didn’t come upon anything. No visible injuries either.

What could have happened? If Mareks, could it be so sudden?

TLDR: hen died suddenly with no prior symptoms. Can marek’s take over that quickly?

I'm so sorry about your pullet. I agree with @Debbie292d the only way to really find out is to get or preform a necropsy. I've had hens that suddenly passed away with no apparent cause before hand and necropsies have showed anything from egg yolk peritonitis, fatty liver disease to 15BBs in the birds gizzard. If you can't find a vet or lab to do it, I believe there are several good articles & videos on here that should be able to provide you with more information. I'll see if I can find them if you like