Sudden Hen Death

[Kandees Clucks]

My question is this: I found one of my Rhode Island Reds hens dead on floor not far from nest, No visible signs of trauma or reason for her death
She was in good health when I let them out that morning she was first one out the door. She wasn't that old so it wasn't Old age. The only unusual thing I did notice was that her back end was very protruded and red you could see a whole and a little poop in there. the opening was about the size of a quarter. very odd. She hadn't been dead as she wasn't very stiff. . I never thought about taking a picture of her at the time as was in shock to find her dead. Just from looking at her my first thought was maybe she couldn't pass an egg and it killed her. since I've never seen anything like this before had me mystified .

any suggestions as why to this happened would be appreciated.

 

[Aunt Angus]

My question is this: I found one of my Rhode Island Reds hens dead on floor not far from nest, No visible signs of trauma or reason for her death
She was in good health when I let them out that morning she was first one out the door. She wasn't that old so it wasn't Old age. The only unusual thing I did notice was that her back end was very protruded and red you could see a whole and a little poop in there. the opening was about the size of a quarter. very odd. She hadn't been dead as she wasn't very stiff. . I never thought about taking a picture of her at the time as was in shock to find her dead. Just from looking at her my first thought was maybe she couldn't pass an egg and it killed her. since I've never seen anything like this before had me mystified .

any suggestions as why to this happened would be appreciated.

Could definitely be that she was egg bound. Can you do a necropsy? That will tell you for sure if there was an egg on there. But there are a lot of things that can go wrong.

 

[Kandees Clucks]

This happened on Thursday. I no longer have her. this is my first experience with this kind of thing. wouldn't know how to do a necrospy, thank you for your reply

 

[Aunt Angus]

This happened on Thursday. I no longer have her. this is my first experience with this kind of thing. wouldn't know how to do a necrospy, thank you for your reply

Lots of folks do them themselves, but I don't. I wouldn't know how, either. I send mine to a lab.