dead chicken in coop with no wounds?

[Lisa202]

This morning I found my 10 month old silkie dead in the coop. There are no wounds and she wasn't acting strange or sickly lately. Her head is in a very crooked position, so I was thinking that maybe she got spooked in the middle of the night and flew into the wall and broke her neck. I don't know...I'm just really hoping that there isn't some disease that kills a chicken in one day without any symptoms (that the other chickens can catch). Anyone with any ideas or experience with this? Thanks, Lisa

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had similar happen before. It's hard to know exactly what happened or why it happened. Your guess of her injuring her neck is as good as any.

When I've seen it, it was isolated to one chicken. No others came down with anything. If it happens again in the near future, you might want to check with your county extension office, in the phone book under county government, and see what it would take to get a necropsy. You'd need to freeze the body to preserve it. Here, it does not cost much since Arkansas is a high chicken producing state and they want to keep a handle on diseases, but in some states, it might get pretty expensive. You can also check with a vet, but a lot don't do birds.

To me, odds are really high it is not a disease. It is unfortune and I am sorry it happened, but when you deal with living animals you sometimes have to deal with dead animals.

 

[sunnyvera]

The same thing happened to me a few months ago. I was doing a head count, as I usually do at nite in the coop, and one of the Buff Orps. was missing. I recounted twice, then went to the run with the flashlight. I feared a predator, but she was cold dead next to the waterer. No signs of anything, just a natural death. She was full grown (2 yrs old), beautiful and healthy the day earlier. With the short days, and I work, I don't always see them during the day - to see what they are up to. It freaked me out, I checked her out, no signs of anything. It was an isolated incident. Sad, but it happens. Nothing has happened since. I did replace her with 5 more Barnvelder girls. I guess that is chicken math.

 

[swamy]

See my post from earlier today, "first casualty". Same deal, 10 month old buff orpington. Healthy acting and looking, very active, chased me around for a little scratch in the AM. She layed an egg in the AM, found her dead around lunch time, inside the coop. Sudden death in chickens doesn't seem to be to rare at all.