Wondering how my Cochin? chicken died?

kaumlauf

Crowing
13 Years
Nov 2, 2010
217
83
256
Cambridge Springs, PA
I went out to the coop this morning to feed and water my 18 hens, and one was in a nest box dead. Her legs were outstretched, as if in a seizure . No outward signs of injury. She was 2 yrs old, looked healthy and was well fed. The hens have a half acre of free grass pasture besides the daily feed and water. We use TSC Dumore Layer feed and have oyster shells, dirt, soil, grass, bugs, weeds, water sunflower seeds etc. She was looking healthy up to this point. She laid very large brown speckled eggs. No other hens were dead. Any ideas of what may have happened? Her breed was something like Midnite Marauna. She was large, all black with feathered legs. We bought her at Tractor Supply 2 years ago.
 
Did she lay an egg the day she died? If not, then she could have been eggbound. Otherwise, could be a heart attack. Occasionally a bird will get one randomly and just drop dead. If you're really curious, keep her refridgerated and take her to your state poultry lab for a necropsy. Sorry for your loss, I had one who died of a heart attack last month, sadly these things just happen sometimes
 
Did she lay an egg the day she died? If not, then she could have been eggbound. Otherwise, could be a heart attack. Occasionally a bird will get one randomly and just drop dead. If you're really curious, keep her refridgerated and take her to your state poultry lab for a necropsy. Sorry for your loss, I had one who died of a heart attack last month, sadly these things just happen sometimes
Thank you. There were eggs in her nest box, but I have no idea if one was hers or not. They do lay large eggs, maybe it was that.
 
Just like humans, dogs, or anything else an apparently healthy chicken can sometimes just die suddenly. I've had a couple do that. It could be a stroke or heart attack, maybe she had a defect that made her susceptible. I had one that broke her neck, I think she was trying to get away from an amorous rooster and ran into a fence. Accidents can happen. If it were a disease she should have been acting sick for a bit. You would have probably noticed.

I treat those as a one-off. When you keep living animals occasionally you have to deal with dead animals. If it repeats I suggest you look into getting a necropsy to see if they can determine what happened.
 

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