Tragedy today

[SurferchickinSB]

sorry for your loss, chickens are notorious for hiding illness and injuries so what you may have noticed was a short period something may have been going on longer, it's inherited trait for self preservation from predators, Glad they could get vet was able to help ya get the body sent off. I had one last week that did it, and son disposed of the body while I was at an appointment, but suspect it could be from the goofball getting in and and laying in the oyster shell bin, or there was a wasps nest just the other side of my fence not sure where ti came from but looked like it had recently been sprayed

Thanks, I thought maybe she could have gotten stung by a wasp. I had bought a wasp trap this morning because I saw a yellow jacket flying around in the backyard and I was scared it might sting one of my animals.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Doesn't sound like she was egg bound, you hadn't noticed anything different with her. Are you sure she hadn't hid eggs from you? Don't know if the scare would cause her to be egg bound .... So sorry for your loss

Thank you, no none of my chickens ever lay eggs outside of the nest areas. About an hour or two after the hawk attack, she laid a jelly egg and then she never laid after that. That was last week. I call it a jelly egg because it did not even have a softshell, it was just like egg white.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Oh well, hopefully after they do the necropsy, they will be able to tell me what happened. I will let you guys know what the results are. I guess I am just wasting my time wondering, so I will just wait for the results.

 

[Willowspirit]

I actually lost my Big Mama hen last week. She was two. I think she had reproductive issues but on her last day she was lively and ranging more than usual. At coop time I couldn’t find her anywhere. My hubby and I looked for for about an hour and a half that night and couldn’t find her. She didn’t turn up the next day. On Friday my husband found her in the tack room of the barn. She had some amount of decomposition so we’re sure she probably died Wednesday. I just don’t know. We didn’t send her for autopsy because of the decomp. It’s very hard. We miss her especially my little runt who hung out with her.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I actually lost my Big Mama hen last week. She was two. I think she had reproductive issues but on her last day she was lively and ranging more than usual. At coop time I couldn’t find her anywhere. My hubby and I looked for for about an hour and a half that night and couldn’t find her. She didn’t turn up the next day. On Friday my husband found her in the tack room of the barn. She had some amount of decomposition so we’re sure she probably died Wednesday. I just don’t know. We didn’t send her for autopsy because of the decomp. It’s very hard. We miss her especially my little runt who hung out with her.

Yeah so sorry for you too, I just can’t believe my Coco died today.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Yes, this is tragic, and I do understand as it's happened to me. Coco was a stunning hen, gorgeous, and I know she'll be missed.

Over many years of keeping chickens, I've had many die of many different things, but most of them were not sudden and without warning like Coco's death. The ones that did die suddenly, I sadly traced to insecticide poisoning or other petroleum distillates such as pain thinner contaminated soil and hydraulic fluid contaminated soil.

Even a very voracious bacterial infection that kills in less than 24 hours will cause a chicken to be visibly sick. Hens can die from reproductive disorders, but those also make a chicken sick before she dies.

Some folks here will say that a chicken can die suddenly of heart failure. I had a young rooster turn up dead under his roost one morning. He, like your Coco, had been perfectly fine when I closed the coop the night before. I suppose it could have been his heart. But more than likely, he had tumors on his heart or other organs and they just quit working. I've had it confirmed I have a cancer causing virus in my flock.

The only way to know for sure what killed sweet Coco is to have her body necropsied, opened up and organs examined and fluids tested. I'm glad you have already made arrangements. Please let us know the results here on this thread.

Thank you, yes I will post the results. Do you think it could have been a heart attack? Because her comb and wattles were extremely pale when I found her and usually they are bright red or do they lose their coloring when they die?

 

[Willowspirit]

Yeah so sorry for you too, I just can’t believe my Coco died today.

Yes. I understand. And in such a short period of time.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

So sorry for your loss. She was really beautiful!

 

[azygous]

The great thing about the neropsy is we won't need to resort to wild guessing and conjecture. If Coco had a heart attack, the necropsy will find the heart destroyed. It may even be able to tell you why the heart ruptured if that's what killed her.

 

[aart]

I had a chicken die today, my little Coco.

Condolences
She was gorgeous.
Lost one a month ago, dropped dead within 10 minutes of being let out into run one morning. Never did figure out why, she either choked or ran into the fence.