Unfortunately my last buff orpington passed away in my arms yesterday. Her name was Dave and she was my precious little baby. She was almost 3 this year. I'm wondering what could've caused her death as it was very sudden and unexpected. I went away on vacation for a few days and when I returned she was in the coop just standing there. I knew something was wrong immediately because she's always been very energetic and she doesn't like to be picked up so when she let me pick her up without protest I got very worried. My mom was looking after the chickens while I was gone and said she'd been active and alert earlier in the day, that was this past Saturday. I gave her a soak because I thought she was egg bound which now I don't really think she was. She was able to eat and drink and was pooping, though it was all liquidy and nasty; she was still able to get stuff through. I noticed her crop wasn't emptying correctly so I withheld food for 24 hrs hoping to help with that. I was also deworming and giving her antibiotics at this point, hoping to help her. The next day she seemed a little perkier and I let her stay inside with Barbie, they walked around together and she ate some eggs and peas. She was refusing to eat normal chicken food at this point and was drinking a lot. I was considering taking her to the vet to have her put to sleep but my mom said give her one more night and I did. She slept in my bed upstairs with me. The whole time she just kept getting more lethargic and her comb was turning black and flopped over. I really have no idea what did this and I'm worried it may be contagious as her sister Daisy passed in a very similar way back in November, but unlike Dave she lasted a lot longer. 
