Sudden Death of Young Hen

[laurenspoppy]

I'm still in shock. Two hours ago, I went out to water my garden. All three of my 9-month old hens were running about happily in their large chicken run, and nothing seemed unusual. One hour ago, I went back out to put them in their coop for the evening. However, one of them (my Buff Orpington - a seemingly healthy, 9-month old, egg laying hen) was lying on the ground with her forehead down, which didn't look right. So, I approached her and gently stroked her neck feathers, but she didn't move. When I picked her up, she flapped a wing once, and laid her head on my shoulder and died. I don't know what happened. the other two hens are still very normal, be it a bit nervous and unsettled about their sick friend. She'd been perfectly normal an hour earlier. I looked around for any sign of poisons or anything unusual at all, and found nothing at all unusual. Water was clean, food looked fine, and she didn't have any wounds on her. Does anybody have any idea what this could possibly be? Has anybody experienced this before? I feel terrible.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I'm so sorry. I have no idea what it might be. Hopefully, some others can offer some ideas.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

So sorry, it wasn't your fault. Could she have been egg bound? You could send her body to an agricultural lab...Sometimes people send their dead chickens that seemed to die for no reason at all to a...not sure what they are called but they disect your chicken to see what went kaput, and then send the results back to you.

 

[Petuniaismyfav]

Hi laurenspoppy,
Your post is old and I am so sorry about your hen dying like that. I am emailed to ask if you ever determined the cause. A very similar thing happened to my buff brahma today. She is only 5.5 months old and had not yet started laying. It was so disturbing and I am worried about my other chickens.
Thank you,
Liz