Tragedy in the coop

[Sarahkw]

I have (had) a small flock of 5 ladies - 2 Buff Orpingtons & 3 Barred Rocks. I let them run free for a couple hours this afternoon (as usual) & then went to put them back in their run.
When I offer them dried meal worms, they usually excitedly come running as fast as they can - today only 4 came.
I found Pearl, one of my Orps, laying under a tree in the run. Initially I thought she was dust bathing, but she then began rubbing her head on the ground & about 30 seconds later was lifeless.
She was a year old and seemed to be in perfect health.
I am so saddened by the loss of my girl and am wondering if anyone knows what may have caused this?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Heat is everyone's big bugg-bear but Sunstroke can strike at almost any time and temperature and kill a healthy vigorous chicken in as little as 300 seconds (5 minutes)

Seeing that our chickens are derived from the Red. Green, and/or Grey JUNGLE fowl it continually befuddles me when people fail to provide sufficient shade for their flock.

One year during a real scorcher of a heat wave I climbed into the loft of a barn standing on a piece of ground where I was growing off young game roosters to watch their reaction to Sunlight. I was never bothered having to water these youngsters because a year round, artesian spring surfaced about a quarter of a mile away and ran within 200 feet of the barn. There were a scattering of beech trees between the spring outflow and the barn.

When I fed these little roosters they came from everywhere to eat and then immediately went to water. But watching from the loft of the barn not one out of the hundred or so of these chickens would venture from beneath the shade of the overhanging tree limbs to get to that water. Often they would travel 400 or more feet in a roundabout fashion to go from the shade of the barn then follow the shade of one beech tree limb to another in order to get a drink.

Shade is THAT IMPORTANT to a chicken.

 

[LibbyR]

Did her wattles/comb look blue? That would definetly help you figure out if it had a heart attack or something similar. Just repeating knowledge I’ve been given on this forum. Also check her crop and see if there was something wrong with it. Chickens can hide illness well so maybe she was sick. Observing the rest of the flock for a while would be a good thing.

 

[HuskerHens18]

I wonder if it was heat stress? Is it hot where you live? Has any of your flock been panting or holding their wings out from their bodies?

 

[dunnmom]

Heart attack? Stroke? Sudden death without prior symptoms might point to something like that. I'm so sorry you lost your hen.

 

[HenniesInMyHeart]

I was thinking heat, too...my poor girls have been miserable in the heat we're having this summer! Poor hennie. You might want to consider sending her for a necropsy to make sure the culprit wasn't contagious.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Sorry for your loss

 

[Cindy in PA]

I have read to expect 10-20% loss every year. While I rarely have seen this, it is to be expected. There may be no obvious reason found.

 

[microchick]

Unfortunately, sometimes they do just die and we never know why. Could be just something as simple a genetic flaw in heart function or an infection in her reproductive system.

Chickens often don't show signs of illness until they either drop dead or are too sick for the owner to help them.

So sorry for your loss but unfortunately we have all suffered such a loss and have been in your shoes.

 

[moniquem]

. This is the bad part of chicken keeping, sometimes you just never find an answer.....