Dead RIR

[feldon]

I went to my coop yesterday and found one of my Rhodies dead in the chicken run. It was perfectly healthy the evening before when I locked them up for the evening. It is impossible for anything to get into the coop, it's preditor proof. All my chickens get on famously & I have no roosters. Is it possible that a healthy chicken can just drop down dead fror no reason? Could it maybe have had a heart attack?
feldon

 

[SpottedCrow]

Has it been really hot? Heavies can really suffer when it's 80's+ and humid.
Sorry for your loss.

 

[feldon]

No Spotted Crow, I'm in the Pacific NW. Our sunshine is usually in the form of rain Actually, the temps haven't been over 75degrees so far this year, and also with a nice breeze. It's a mystery to me. I was wondering if she ate something that disagreed.

 

[chicknmania]

We've had that happen once or twice. Seemed to be healthy one day, dead the next. First place, sometimes they seem to be healthy; but they're masters at disguising ill symptoms. You don't say how old she was. Our one apparently healthy Shaver Red hen we found dying beside her nest, her head resting on her freshly laid egg. I felt so sorry for her. So I don't know if egg laying may have something to do sometimes with sudden deaths? I imagine there's a million reasons a chicken can die suddenly, just like all of us. So sorry for your loss.

 

[aran]

i wonder if chickens are like us and just have terminal events at random times like a heart attack/stroke/arrythmia etc.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

I imagine chickens can and do have heart attacks and such. I had a Boa Constrictor die of a stroke...and I had no clue they could even have strokes.

 

[aran]

im sure you are right AF...very sad but maybe there was just something brewing in that chicken from day one. If you are worried about something contagious even though it seems unlikely given how good she looked last night, you could take her to a vet to have a post mortum done. ( can you tell im a doc?!?!?!)

 

[feldon]

She was 15mths old. I found her in the run lying in a dust hole on her back. Everyone else looks just fine. For good measure I'm going to deep clean the coop & run this weekend.
feldon

 

[lurky]

Are there any EGG related issues that could have to do with it?

 

[feldon]

No egg related issues that I was aware of