Sudden Hen Death...Necropsy?

[hokankai]

One of my 16 month old hens declined extremely rapidly and died just a few hours after displaying symptoms. She came up to me and ate some scratch and then a few minutes later I found her laying in the run breathing through her mouth. I checked for an egg in her vent, but the only symptoms she showed was being unable to stand or walk and breathing rapidly through her mouth. There were a few pieces of scratch in the back of her throat but that's all I could see. Any ideas of what could have happened? She was also in the middle of a molt I think.

Should I attempt to perform a necropsy and if so, is there anywhere I can get directions on how to do it? My main concern is seeing if she choked or if she has worms as she was perfectly fine this morning and only minutes before she crashed.

 

[TechnoCat]

I would do a necropsy, to see what was wrong with her. But that's just me. If your findings are inconclusive, take her to the vet, maybe they can see what was wrong. If you do find something interesting, post pics.

 

[hokankai]

Well I decided against the necropsy since I don't have any proper supplies, I leave to go back to college tomorrow (and nobody else would do it), and I'm worried I might a. throw up or b. pass out

. I have no idea what would have happened but whatever it was caused her to go quickly without much suffering. I wish i wasn't such a wuss and was able to do it...but I can't handle the thought of slicing open a pet

 

[TechnoCat]

It's okay. don't worry about it

 

[hokankai]

Well, now I've got another hen down who's probably on her way out. This time she's down, her tail feathers are down, and she has a purple comb. The last one had a pale comb. What the HECK is going on?! I'm not there anymore so I'm getting all of this from my mother. She also doesn't seem to be breathing from her mouth but is breathing heavily I guess.