My red star hen died extremely suddenly yesterday with no symptoms whatsoever - I mean literally zero warning. She had been laying well and was very energetic that morning. My mother had gone by the house to let them out to free range in the afternoon, and she said the hen was happily running around the yard free-ranging. My mother was doing some yard work, so she was out there keeping an eye on the chickens and with them the entire time ruling out any type of predator. One moment the hen was fine, the next moment she was lying still on her side in the yard. My mother picked her up, she squawked a bit, and was gone literal minutes later. I am so puzzled. She was really young still, only 8 months old, and had absolutely no symptoms of anything being wrong, and as a baby she was vaccinated and medicated. She was a happy hen with a lot of energy who was laying very well. She was the sweetest out of the flock too. She is only the second hen who has died on me, but I have a small flock so the loss is a little more acute. I honestly cannot even think of what could have been wrong.
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. It kind of sounds like sudden chicken death syndrome which isn't uncommon in production breeds. It's caused by their hearts growing too fast which leads to cardiac arrest. I've had a couple pullets that I suspect died that way. But it normally occurs at point of lay or younger so I'm not really sure if that's what it was or not. Again I'm very sorry about your hen, you really get attached to them like any other pet and it's hard to lose one 
