Sudden Death - Please Help

[egzactly]

I have 6 chickens. All of them are 8 mos old. One of the wyandotte's, Winnie, suddenly died yesterday. We found her when we got home from work.

Winnie was the only chicken currently laying eggs. None of the others have started laying yet. Winnie was very healthy. She was a good eater. I was feeding them the medicated feed until about 6-7 months, then switched over to the laying pellets. I supplement their diet with oatmeal and raisins on the weekends, plus some fruits or veggies that interest them.

I inspected her body before we buried her and I could find nothing visibly wrong with her. She had beautiful, healthy feathers. She was an excellent size too. One of the larger of the 6 birds.

I'm completely baffled by this. There is no sign that a predator was involved. The other girls appear to be fine, and the coup/run was undisturbed. Should I be concerned for the remaining 5 birds? What could have caused this?

Thank you for your help.

 

[NYREDS]

Probably a heart attack. It happens.

 

[columbiacritter]

Chickens can die suddenly for no apparent reason. If you wanted to pay for a necropsy you might find the cause, but then again maybe not. Most of the birds we buy have been inbred, over bred, badly bred and just plain genetically abused so they could have any number of things go wrong that leave no outward sign.

Even "good" breeders are generally only breeding from birds who are 1 or 2 yrs old so they have no idea if thier line has issues that will show up in time. If they keep breeding the line back to itself the health issues will become worse and appear younger and younger. I saw it sooo much when I was involved in purebred dogs and now I'm seeign it in purebred chickens.

 

[silkiechicken]

It happens. The first few weeks of life (weak chicks/internal deformities/failure to thrive), point of lay (reproductive issues) are common times for spontaneous death.