Why did my hen die?! 😭

[Tbrad]

We had been mending one our hens that was severely pecked so she had been inside for a couple of weeks. She started laying while inside while the others her age havent started yet. Over the past few days she has been more and more restless to get outside and so we followed her lead. When the sun went down she went into the coop by choice and we watched her get settled on the roost. We had her on the bantam side because the older hens are still mean to her. All was good....or so it seemed.

When we woke up to check on her, the camera wire had been disconnected so it's possible something happened but we found her in the corner by the side exit dead where she laid, almost like in her sleep. Is putting her outside what killed her after being insider for weeks? It wasn't peculiarly hot. There is a bantam rooster with them as well. I checked and there was no blood or injury.

She is also a salmon favorelle which the one I had in my first batch dropped dead before laying but that death was much more floppy and dramatic.

Any ideas?

 

[toredano]

Could be anything.. if you cant see anything predatory.. it was within her. Could have been sepsis..infection can kill a bird very fast

 

[samanthaoverton]

Maybe it was a laying issue? She just came in to lay right? Don't blame yourself it was not your fault.

 

[mrsmistoffelees02]

I’m so sorry for your loss. Chicken Sudden Death Syndrome is the first thing that came to mind, and it can be caused by a number of things... I would recommend looking into that, it might help give some closure as to what happened.
I can say with certainty you putting her outside isn’t what caused this! She was luckier than the majority of chickens in the world to have you look after her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We had been mending one our hens that was severely pecked so she had been inside for a couple of weeks. She started laying while inside while the others her age havent started yet. Over the past few days she has been more and more restless to get outside and so we followed her lead. When the sun went down she went into the coop by choice and we watched her get settled on the roost. We had her on the bantam side because the older hens are still mean to her. All was good....or so it seemed.

When we woke up to check on her, the camera wire had been disconnected so it's possible something happened but we found her in the corner by the side exit dead where she laid, almost like in her sleep. Is putting her outside what killed her after being insider for weeks? It wasn't peculiarly hot. There is a bantam rooster with them as well. I checked and there was no blood or injury.

She is also a salmon favorelle which the one I had in my first batch dropped dead before laying but that death was much more floppy and dramatic.

Any ideas?

I'm sorry to hear about your pullet.
There's really no way to know what happened without necropsy. If you still have the body, refrigerate it and send it to your state lab for analysis. Look up your lab here:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Alternatively, you can perform your own informal investigation. Looking the carcass over well for injury/trauma, then inside at the organs for anything that might be obvious, reproductive problems, organ failure, etc. If you do this, take photos and post them here, we'll try to help you with what you see.

 

[Tbrad]

Maybe it was a laying issue? She just came in to lay right? Don't blame yourself it was not your fault.

Yes for about a week now. I do feel like it seemed she was producing at a fast rate like under every 24 hrs but not enough time went by to know for sure. I HIGHLY recommend Salmon Favorelles because she had the best personality but having all mixed breed I will no longer get 1 chicken of a kind.

When they roost at night, they self segregate and the ones pecked the most are the ones that lack a match. I think she would have had a better chance of survival as far as the pecking order is concerned had she had a partner that looked like her.

The pecked my polish to where she (ended up a he) until he had no more poof on top of his had so I had to give him back

 

[Tbrad]

I’m so sorry for your loss. Chicken Sudden Death Syndrome is the first thing that came to mind, and it can be caused by a number of things... I would recommend looking into that, it might help give some closure as to what happened.
I can say with certainty you putting her outside isn’t what caused this! She was luckier than the majority of chickens in the world to have you look after her.

Thank you! I have and unfortunately have to settle on that

 

[Tbrad]

I'm sorry to hear about your pullet.
There's really no way to know what happened without necropsy. If you still have the body, refrigerate it and send it to your state lab for analysis. Look up your lab here:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Alternatively, you can perform your own informal investigation. Looking the carcass over well for injury/trauma, then inside at the organs for anything that might be obvious, reproductive problems, organ failure, etc. If you do this, take photos and post them here, we'll try to help you with what you see.

I don't think I could have done an autopsy on this one, maybe next time. If I am going to have meet chickens eventually, I'll have to harden up a bit. Idk how people do it at this point though. I was looking at my flock last night thinking to myself that I couldn't kill them for food. I certainly don't think I could eat them non-chalantly either.

I've thought about having a separate flock for meat chickens and try a less attachment approach like not naming them or whatever but I just don't know

 

[Tbrad]

I examined the yard yesterday and saw these rust colored hard skinned puffballs or earth balls (according to my Picture This app). Could she have eaten these perhaps? I'm trying to search online but am getting mixed reviews