Healthy year old hen found dead in henhouse yesterday morning

[Frogmore Chix]

My Speckled Sussex had coccidiosis when she was about 6 weeks old. I treated her with Corrid & she got well. She was slower to develop growth-wise than my other hens, but was thriving& grew into a beautiful, normal weight & size, healthy looking & healthy acting girl . She always ate & drank well & was very chatty & busy in the coop. She started laying eggs when she was about 8 months old & laid well - about 5-6 eggs a week. Yesterday morning I found her dead in the henhouse for no apparent reason. She had been acting fine & showed no signs of illness or stress at all. Could her early bout with coccidiosis have shortened her life like this? What is the life expectancy for a chicken that has survived a bout of coccidiosis?

 

[pdirt]

Sorry to hear for your loss.

The only way to know for sure is to send the bird in for a necropsy. Often state universities have vet programs that will do so for a nominal fee. The cost is usually more involved in packing it well with freezer packs for shipping.

Was she laying up to the day she died?

 

[Frogmore Chix]

Yes she was laying regularly.

 

[MrsBrooke]

I am very sorry for your loss.

It sounds like she could have had a heart attack, seizure, or stroke. Did you notice her comb was purple or anything like that?

Could she have gotten into anything poisonous or toxic - like peeling lead paint, herbicide/pesticide, Styrofoam, or little pieces of metal?

x2 on the necropsy. I might even consider performing one at home. I would open her up and check her gizzard... If you find metal in there, that's what got her. "Hardware disease" is a real thing and it can cause sudden death with no symptoms.

A chicken treated with Corid usually bounces back and can live a long, happy life (assuming it was caught early enough to not cause lasting damage to her intestines). I've treated several batches of chicks for Cocci, and they are still thriving two years later.

Obesity and its related illnesses could also have had an impact, if she was overweight at all. Chickens have a TERRIBLE habit of hiding what ails them until it's literally too late for us to do anything about it.

Don't blame yourself... You did nothing wrong, and it probably wasn't the Corid/Cocci. Sometimes, the best ones are just taken too soon.

MrsB

 

[Frogmore Chix]

No she could not have gotten into anything poisonous, etc.- all my hens are in a large coop with a big run & henhouse & do not free range.

She was not overweight.

Her comb always looked fine & did so the evening before it happened. When I found her is was a pale pink color, but it appeared that she died sometime during the night so it was hours before I found her then early on Thursday morning. Perhaps that's why is was so pale?

I had read when she had her bout of coccidiosis that it could really damage the intestines. Since she thrived for 9 months after her bout with it & was growing, eating, drinking, eliminating, & acting perfectly well I thought we had been lucky. Plus she was laying eggs regularly week after week until the day she died. Perhaps there still was damage to the intestines that finally caught up with her?

 

[pdirt]

She would've been sick if it was the cocci catching up with her. There would been symptoms, she wouldn't have appeared well nor have been laying eggs. I second the home necropsy, checking her gizzard, like Mrs B said. A loose piece of hardware mesh, a lost screw from a building project. Rat or mouse poison buried into the ground from years ago, or a bullet buried in the ground. I have found some crazy things in the soil of different homes I have had over the years.

 

[MrsBrooke]

Everything @pdirt said.

I'd check her gizzard first. If that was your only loss (I hope so), chalk it up to "some chickens just don't make it." Also check over for spider bites (redness, swelling).

I'm glad you keep your hens at a healthy weight. Special treats can end up loving a chicken to death... Can you feel if she was losing weight? It may be parasites, both internal or external turned her anemic or starved her.

A home necropsy can also reveal masses and tumors in the abdomen if there are any.

If you lose another one to mysterious circumstance, consider seriously sending her in to the state vet for a necropsy. Place the body in the FRIDGE, not the freezer before you ship.

I am sorry for your loss.

MrsB