Tragedy today

[SurferchickinSB]

I had a chicken die today, my little Coco. I don’t know what happened, because I had just given them a couple treats and picked up the run before I was going to go surfing. I was only gone 2 1/2 hours and I rushed into the backyard because it was 5:20 pm and usually I let them free range at 5pm, so I was running kind of late and I noticed one of my chickens was missing, so I looked in the coop and it looked like she was curled up in a ball there and so I called her name and there was no response. She had died in less than three hours and she seemed fine when I left, the only thing I noticed was she was breathing with her mouth open, but I thought it was because it was hot. Her body was still warm when I found her. Has anybody had anything like this happen to any of their chickens before? Coco was only one and a half years old. The only thing I noticed that looked different about her when she was dead was that her comb and wattles looked very pale, but I don’t know if that is because she was dead.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

View attachment 1886344 I had a chicken die today, my little Coco. I don’t know what happened, because I had just given them a couple treats and picked up the run before I was going to go surfing. I was only gone 2 1/2 hours and I rushed into the backyard because it was 5:20 pm and usually I let them free range at 5pm, so I was running kind of late and I noticed one of my chickens was missing, so I looked in the coop and it looked like she was curled up in a ball there and so I called her name and there was no response. She had died in less than three hours and she seemed fine when I left, the only thing I noticed was she was breathing with her mouth open, but I thought it was because it was hot. Her body was still warm when I found her. Has anybody had anything like this happen to any of their chickens before? Coco was only one and a half years old. The only thing I noticed that looked different about her when she was dead was that her comb and wattles looked very pale, but I don’t know if that is because she was dead.

I'm sorry to hear about your beautiful Coco

Unfortunately, there is really no way to know what happened unless a necropsy is performed. If that's something you are considering having done, refrigerate the body and send it your state lab. https://cahfs.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I'm sorry to hear about your beautiful Coco

Unfortunately, there is really no way to know what happened unless a necropsy is performed. If that's something you are considering having done, refrigerate the body and send it your state lab. https://cahfs.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/

Thank you very much for your response. I called my vet and they even stayed open late for me to bring her in so that they can send her out tomorrow to find out why she died.I just think it is so odd that she was dead in less than three hours! Is that just something that can happen with Chickens?

 

[azygous]

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.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Thank you very much for your response. I called my vet and they even stayed open late for me to bring her in so that they can send her out tomorrow to find out why she died.I just think it is so odd that she was dead in less than three hours! Is that just something that can happen with Chickens?

Coco was panting a little bit heavier than normal, but it was hot today and humid. I have three different watering stations in the run area. I just don’t get it. I can usually always tell when animals are sick and she did not seem sick other than breathing with her mouth open before I left.

 

[slordaz]

Thank you very much for your response. I called my vet and they even stayed open late for me to bring her in so that they can send her out tomorrow to find out why she died.I just think it is so odd that she was dead in less than three hours!

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

 

[ChickNanny13]

Sorry for your loss, she's a beautiful girl
I got a call from my Grand daughter (FL), Bubbles (4mo Silkie) was found dead in the coop at the school (Ag Class) He was running around & fine when she checked them (parents, Ziggy & Dusty) in the morning. It's been hot ... An hour prior to her discovering him, a friend who went to check on her chickens saw him & he was fine.
It was reported to the Teacher, who she was waiting for when she called. No idea what went wrong, possible heat ... She said it was 103 today & they have been "breathing with their mouths open" Told my Daughter about a necropsy but haven't heard as she was meeting there the Teacher.

 

[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

Well, the only odd thing that happened was last week a hawk came into their run and my broody hen was screaming because she has two babies and I had them separated in a wire pen, so when I heard her I went running out and there was a hawk on top of a bush that all my big chickens were hiding under. I scared the hawk away, but Coco laid a jelly like egg and then she didn’t lay an egg after that. I don’t know, but could that experience have caused her to become egg bound? She usually lays five or six eggs a week, but after that she didn’t lay any.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Sorry for your loss, she's a beautiful girl
I got a call from my Grand daughter (FL), Bubbles (4mo Silkie) was found dead in the coop at the school (Ag Class) He was running around & fine when she checked them (parents, Ziggy & Dusty) in the morning. It's been hot ... An hour prior to her discovering him, a friend who went to check on her chickens saw him & he was fine.
It was reported to the Teacher, who she was waiting for when she called. No idea what went wrong, possible heat ... She said it was 103 today & they have been "breathing with their mouths open" Told my Daughter about a necropsy but haven't heard as she was meeting there the Teacher.

Thank you, it was hot but probably only in the low 80s and humid. They have been in hotter weather, so I wasn’t really worried about that even though she was breathing with her mouth open. Before I left she was grabbing a meal worms out of my hands.

 

[ChickNanny13]

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