Sudden hen death, no apparent cause, what do I look for in a necropsy?

[Primchick88]

I didn't do a necropsy on Hope (the hen who passed away). The old fridge where I was keeping her body until I had time to do the necropsy finally stopped working after some large temperature fluctuations all the up to 62F.

I don't know how well her body was being preserved at those temps or if the temperature changes might have affected her organs to the point where they wouldn't tell me anything useful about how she died, so I figured it was better to just let her go.

Unfortunately we lost another Bielefelder hen today. I watched the playback on the camera and it happened exactly the same as the first one: she just lay down and her head slowly sunk down and she died.

She behaved completely normally all morning, eating and drinking and pooping. She had no wounds anywhere and she was not egg bound. She didn't seem distressed in any way. Her feet, eyes, comb, everything looked fine. She was a big, gorgeous Bielefelder like her sisters.

I'm very concerned that this has happened again but I'm not going to do a necropsy. There's a lot going on and this has hit me hard and I'm just not up to it.

Rest in peace, Hope and Maria. Thank you for your eggs and your wonderful, sweet, friendly personalities. You were excellent hens.

Could they be getting into something toxic or poisonous?

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Could they be getting into something toxic or poisonous?

That's a good question. I don't know. We haven't lost anyone since.