URGENT - Advice needed please - dead bird

Sue

Sue

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I lost my beautiful Barnevelder, Teasel last night. She was found dead in the house this morning. She was fine yesterday, no sign of illness, eating and drinking and wandering around with the other birds as normal. She was only about 30 weeks old. My question is what could have killed her so quickly without any signs of illness. Are my other birds at risk? Have I done something wrong and what should I do?
 
Just to add to my post. I forgot to say that she hadn't layed an egg for a few days, but I just assumed she was having a rest as one of the others doesn't lay every day either (a speckled sussex). If she was egg bound, would she show any signs? Or could this have been the problem?
 
So sorry to hear you lost a hen :cry: :cry:
I dont know what could have killed her, but i had a hen who was healthy, laying, perfectly normal in the morning, and in the afternoon she was lying in the garden, dead. Nothing had attacked her, no signs of injury, no worms, no mites and lice so what could it be?! Eventually, I thought it seemed that the only possibility was a heart attack.
Have your other birds shown any symptoms?
Have they been wormed?
Are they mite and lice free?
 
They all seem fine, but so did she! They were all wormed in April. They appear to be mite and lice free. There is certainly no sign of mites in the house. My understanding was anyway that mites and lice couldn't kill a bird unless they were infested of course. I use Diatom regularly in the house, nest boxes and dust bath and also dust the birds about every 6 weeks. I have never seen any mites at all and only ever found 1 louse and then they were all treated. I am now doing a big clean up (not that anything is particularly dirty). Their water containers are scrubbed daily and feed containers cleaned regularly. I pick up droppings twice daily and sprinkle Stalosan regularly. I put organic apple cider vinegar in their water for 1 week each month. They have layers pellets ad lib and small amount of greens and some corn daily.
 
I'm so sorry to hear about your bird, Sue. I don't think it could possibly be anything you've done, your hens are obviously looked after beautifully. I have heard of other people's hens occasionally dying inexplicably and usually it's put down to a heart attack, in the absence of any other symptoms. I shouldn't think you need to worry about the others, it was most probably just a one-off death yhat couldn't have been foreseen or prevented.
 
Hi Sue
So sorry to hear that.I think you should take her for autopsy to the vet to find out the reason,otherwise is just guesing work.If you good with anatomy you could do it your self.You will definetly see if she was egg bound I do not know if you recognize anything else.Once againg so sorry for you loss.
 
It isn't very likely that she'd be eggbound at only 30 weeks, is it? I thought this was something that ageing hens were inclined to get, especially hybrids. Anyone had an eggbound purebred 30-week-old pullet before?

Was her comb blue or purple at all, Sue? This is a sign of heart failure.
 
I was so upset about losing her and I did examine her for any signs of anything wrong, but I didn't check the colour of her comb! She's now buried in the garden so it's too late to check. Would the comb stay red after death if it wasn't heart failure? I wonder why she wasn't laying? Could this be a clue or is it just coincidence do you think?
 
Sorry you lost her. They can keel over and die although appearing perfectly healthy and laying or not laying. Just like us with something like a heart attack.
 
Are heart attacks in such young birds common with chickens? Is the Barnevelder, in particular, a not very healthy breed does anyone know. I would like to have some more, but not if I'm going to be worried about finding them dead every morning!
 
I find sudden deaths can occur across all the pure breeds and the hybrids.
 
My vet told me that all chickens have almost like a "timebomb" inside them, they carry infection and because they have extra added bits to help them get airborne the infection spreads through there and bang! they're dead, it has happened to me a few times.
Its horrible but just part of owning poultry, my vet (again) said you really need to adopt a farmer / farming type attitiude with them as it's part and parcel of owning birds. Things like this happen with chooks.
Sorry! I am a fine candidate to talk, I bubble for days and change my facebook avatar to said dead bird! but thot I would pass on the cold hard facts so you could learn to use them should it happen again x
 
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