Why did my hen mysteriously die?

[WillowMoonWyandottes]

Went out this morning around 9am to feed my chickens and everything seemed fine. Went back out to check on them around 1pm and one of my hens had passed away! It was 20 degrees Fahrenheit last night and the night before was 16 degrees but they seemed to tolerate it okay, during the day it’s in the 40s. But I’m not sure the temperature did this. She was a 7 month old healthy pullet, wasn’t skinny. She did have I’m guessing water in her crop, it was soft but not to big, she hadn’t started laying yet. The only external problem I found was her vent had something small round sticking out and it was red around it. I’ve added pictures of it bellow. Maybe that had something to do with her death but not sure what it is or what’s going on there. Does anyone know what could have caused this?

 

[Tonyroo]

Sorry you lost a young pullet.

 

[WillowMoonWyandottes]

Does anyone know what was going on with her vent and if that could have caused her death?

 

[Tonyroo]

@Eggcessive, @Wyorp Rock, would you have any insight?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The only way to get a better idea is to cut the vent open more and take a look to see if there was a blockage. An examination of the internal organs as well, though they may be a bit discolored with the freezing temperatures.

Sometimes home necropsy will give us a clue, sometimes we are left with more questions.
If you do a further examination, take some photos, we may be able to help you with what you see.

I'm sorry that she died.

 

[-Flash-]

Could she have had mites? Or lice?

 

[WillowMoonWyandottes]

Could she have had mites? Or lice?

No I don’t think so. I think in the pictures it was just dirt/sand on her feathers, didn’t see any evidence of lice on her.

 

[WillowMoonWyandottes]

The only way to get a better idea is to cut the vent open more and take a look to see if there was a blockage. An examination of the internal organs as well, though they may be a bit discolored with the freezing temperatures.

Sometimes home necropsy will give us a clue, sometimes we are left with more questions.
If you do a further examination, take some photos, we may be able to help you with what you see.

I'm sorry that she died.

I buried her not long ago so I won’t be able to do the necropsy but that would have been a good idea to tell more, I’ve never done one before but I’m hoping to learn more about it in the future.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I buried her not long ago so I won’t be able to do the necropsy but that would have been a good idea to tell more, I’ve never done one before but I’m hoping to learn more about it in the future.

Hard to tell, but the vent looks clogged with poop and possibly evidence of prolapsing tissue.
Opening the abdomen and vent would have showed if there was a blockage, if there was material (egg, lash egg, "something") in the oviduct/reproductive system, gizzard, digestive system, etc. Looking at the organs (liver/heart) may have helped i.d. dysfunction.

A lot of us do our own very informal examinations. Sometimes we are able to gather more info and come to a conclusion about the cause of death. Sometimes not.

This video is a professional necropsy but the organs are labeled so it's worth watching. I can say I've never done one so thorough, but usually when I do one it's on an older hen and I'm pretty sure about what I'm looking for, but just want confirmation. I have had a couple of younger birds die and was able to determine something wrong with the heart in one and the other her liver had ruptured. So you never know what you may find.
Taking photos if you want to share with others is a good idea, we all can learn things and give input as well.

There's also a necropsy thread. It hasn't been posted on in a while since most folks just make their own thread, but you may find some of the info helpful there too. None of us are vets, but we try to do the best we can. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ning-contains-graphic-necropsy-photos.823961/