What are the signs of death by being overweight?

[Bubs]

We found our 18 month old Orpington dead in the run today, she was out and about yesterday and this morning too. I had noticed a month or two ago that she seemed to have a hard time keeping up with the rest of the girls and sometimes walked with a limp(just figured she got into it with another hen). She had no other signs than she was a big bird and after reading some posts on here it might've been because of her weight. Our chickens do free range, but I may start cutting back their feed if thats the issue. My question is, are there any other signs of death by eating too much?

 

[J-Sanders]

Did you weigh her before you put her in the ground? The average weight listed for the breed is 8lbs live weight. She could probably carry about 20 percent more than that and still be ok. If you really had to know what killed her you could get Gail Damerow's book and do a necropsy yourself or send the hen off to the state lab.

Jim

 

[Bubs]

I didn't weigh her, we just purt her in the chicken graveyard, but she was much bigger than the Plymouth Barred Rock we have. I was thinking and realized that her feather had been quite freyed lately, I had just thought maybe she was molting again, but now I wonder...
Can't find much information about freyed feathers and the cause. I've checked them for mites and have never found any. Any thoughts?

 

[cafarmgirl]

I've never had a hen who had plenty of room to roam and was fed a good layer feed get overweight and I've never had to restrict their food intake. I agree with J-Sanders, you'll only get an answer if you necropsy her. She may well have had something going on inside that caused her to bloat up (ascites) and seem fat perhaps, I don't know. No way of knowing for sure unless you see inside.

On that note, I had a Buff Orp that I lost this past spring due to heart problems. She showed similar symptoms, just acting slow and resting a lot. She did swell up with a lot of fluid due to poor circulation and that caused her to walk funny.

Sorry you lost your bird.

 

[RedIII]

I don't know what signs to look for after the death, but I have seen signs of weight being an issue before a bird dies. My BF had a turkey that was very badly overweight. He wheezed when he breathed, hardly ever moved, and seemed to have arthritis or joint pain in his legs. He was a big boy. The BF found him keeled over one morning, and we figure it was from health issues caused by his weight.