Why would an apparently healthy hen die in her sleep?!

[Weezy58]

We are so upset and baffled. Just found Charmin, one of our White Orpingtons (the biggest, fattest one) dead in her nesting box. She was only two years old and was vaccinated as a chick against Marek's and cocciodosis. Thankfully, it looked like she peacefully passed in her sleep. We just have a small flock of six free-range pets so we think we'd notice if one was showing any concerning symptoms. But all have been very active and eating well and seemed completely normal. The only odd thing we've noticed is that in the past week, someone's eggs have been getting smaller and smaller. (It's a communal laying box so we didn't know who.) One egg laid yesterday was only about half normal size. We're very concerned that this might be the beginning of something that will sweep through the flock. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[ten chicks]

We are so upset and baffled. Just found Charmin, one of our White Orpingtons (the biggest, fattest one) dead in her nesting box. She was only two years old and was vaccinated as a chick against Marek's and cocciodosis. Thankfully, it looked like she peacefully passed in her sleep. We just have a small flock of six free-range pets so we think we'd notice if one was showing any concerning symptoms. But all have been very active and eating well and seemed completely normal. The only odd thing we've noticed is that in the past week, someone's eggs have been getting smaller and smaller. (It's a communal laying box so we didn't know who.) One egg laid yesterday was only about half normal size. We're very concerned that this might be the beginning of something that will sweep through the flock. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I'm sorry to hear your pet died. So heartbreaking. She may have had a heart attack,and just passed in her sleep. The only other thing i can think of is possible egg bound or egg peritonitis,but you probably would have noticed some symptoms.

 

[GuppyTJ]

Weezy,

So sorry to hear this, terrible shock it must have been finding her dead in the nest box. Did she die laying an egg do you think or does she commonly sleep in the nest box? One idea for is you might get the book "The Chicken Health Handbook" as on page 164, it lists 14 "Diseases Causing Sudden Death" that affect mature hens, plus a bunch more that affect chickens of other ages. Each disease is described in the back of the book in great detail. Some possible ones are not transmittable, others are. I tried to look up several to see if I could help you but not having the specifics of her condition before and after dying, I'm not having any luck. I reference this book constantly for everything to do with chicken health, from increasing immunity, bio-security, parasites, etc. I got it when my chickens had a respiratory infection and although I could not narrow it down to the exact disease they had, I sure learned a lot from the book and other resources. Respiratory infections are not easy to distinguish from each other and there are a lot of different ones because chickens have delicate respiratory systems. I got my copy used on Amazon.

Other than this... you could call your county extension office and see if they know where you can get a necropsy done (that's an autopsy on an animal). Some places do it for free, some for a small fee. Mine will do 3 birds for $30, never had it done but it's good to know it's an option in the future, if I am ever unfortunate enough to need it.

I also googled "diseases causing sudden death in chickens" and another thread on backyard chickens popped up at near the top. It suggests a few things you can look into: poisonous plants and Salmonella, plus a few other things. The link is: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/42111/sudden-chicken-death/10

In any case, it's probably going to take some detective work to figure it out but worth it, if you can in any way ward off any further harm to your remaining healthy hens. Good luck and let us know what you find, always interested in the outcome of these as we often hear the beginning of the story but rarely, know what happened in the end.

Best of luck to you,
Guppy

 

[Weezy58]

Thank you ten chicks and Guppy!! That's excellent information. Really wish I'd thought to have our vet do a necropsy. We're very fortunate to have a vet that's experienced with poultry and waterfowl just 15 minutes away. I would have taken her right in if I'd suspected anything was wrong. From reading the "sudden death in chickens" posts you realize it happens to a lot of folks, not that it makes it any easier. I'm definitely going to order the Chicken Health Handbook! Sounds like exactly what we need. We just got our ducks and chickens two years ago so are still relative newbies. But they make our acreage so much more fun, they're well worth the work and even the occasional sadness.