Why did my hen die?

[Sesame]

This morning around 3 am, I woke up and found my favorite hen dead. She was fine yesterday and fine around 11 or so last night. I didn't notice any strange behavior at all. She was my best layer, she was eating and drinking fine. She was out in the run all day yesterday with the chicks and a couple of baby ducks.

I put the chicks in with the 3 hens a few days ago and have been using a 100 watt light bulb just for a little heat for the chicks. Last night we found a missing hen (found in the engine of a truck) and put her back in the coop. I wanted to isolate her but the other hens didn't seem bothered by her so I just left it alone. 3 or 4 hours later, one of the others is dead.

Why would a chicken die so suddenly? Are her eggs ok to eat? Are all my other chickens going to die now too? Do I need to clean out the coop? Everyone seemed so healthy and doing really well.

 

[goldeneggtees]

Hi, I had the same thing happen. I went out at 6:30 a.m. and found one of my girls dead under the roost. Her eyes were closed and she was stiff. So sad. I have no idea why she died, except that maybe one of my daughter's friends maybe picked her up the wrong way at a party the day before?

It was my daughter's favorite hen and it my daughter's bday yesterday, so she stayed home school. We picked up Crazy Comb and went on a soft swing and she stayed with us on it which I was surprised about. Then, in the evening, her comb, ears and wattles looked pale. And now she's dead.

I may ask my vet to look inside and see if she sees anything so I know what happened.

I'm sorry for your loss. I m in shock as I'm sure you are too.

 

[Sesame]

I'm sorry to hear about your hen

 

[chickensioux]

So sorry for your loss. I have had this happen a couple of times and each time I had a necropsy done so I would know what happened. With one hen it was a ruptured tumor on her spleen and with another she had cancer. Both incidences were the same, fine one minute and found dead the next. I'm afraid without a necropsy, you will never know. Again, sorry for your loss.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I had that happen with one of mine, I couldn't find anyone to do a necropsy, so I just assumed it was a stroke. She was only 10 months old and veryhealthy.

 

[rancher hicks]

Just a thought. If the hen that died was the one on the truck engine she could've eaten or drank something she shouldnt' t have. I've seen xrays of a hen with a 1" wood screw inside. Unfortunately unless we're wealthy we can't always know why these things happen. Had a hen get sick everyone else is alive and well. That was months ago.

Sorry for your loss. A word of encouragement for all us chicken lovers. There are many unwanted and neglected chickens out there. I'm sure ours are happy they aren't one of them. Better a short happy life than a long miserable one.

 

[Sesame]

The one that was in the engine isn't the one that died. I just reread my post and I was confusing there. I was really so shocked. I can't afford to have any tests done but it is a little reassuring to know that it might not be an infection or something.

 

[goldeneggtees]

I posted this in my own thread about Crazy Comb but in case you didn't see it OP, here it is. Thought you'd be interested to know we found out what killed our hen.

We dropped Crazy Comb off at my vet this morning for a necropsy. She found a tumor in her liver that had bled out. So that is what killed her. It could have been caused by Mareks, we don't know and will not know as I'm not sure I want to have further testing done since there is not much we can do now. I am still so sorry she is gone and I just hope and pray none of the others have this same thing happen.

I so wish I had had them vaccinated as chicks. I did not know at the time all the diseases they can be subject to. We have EE eggs under one of broody hens, wondering if we should vaccinate them?

My girls came from a hatchery, were delivered to a local feed store and were in the store with adult hens since it was "chick" day at the feed store. They live their life in a closed flock but do freerange on their little 1/4 acre yard. I do try and practice biosecurity since I have educated myself into the possible diseases and illnesses other chickens can bring to our flock.

Poor Crazy Comb, I hope she wasn't in too much pain when she passed.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I guess the thing to think about is that chickens can have genetic defects, tumors, cancer, heart problems, just like us. Because they are more like a production machine, we just take it for granted that they will die of old age or some emergency or from a contagious disease?