# Dead chicken



## jmc0319 (Sep 16, 2012)

Well I've had my first death in the flock and I've only had chickens for 5 weeks. I bought 6 started pullets 5 weeks ago and they were about 12-14 weeks old when I got them. The barred rock seemed a bit slower than normal yesterday. She seemed to be the dominant one. This morning she did not leave the coop. When I checked she was in the nest box. I was excited thinking I would get my first egg. When I checked a little while later she was dead. I have no idea what happened to her. It happened so fast. Any ideas? Here's a picture of Gertrude. R.I.P.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Sounds like she had a laying issue...you could cut her open and explore as to what is going on inside, which is the only way you may ever find out what happened.


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## jmc0319 (Sep 16, 2012)

Bee said:


> Sounds like she had a laying issue...you could cut her open and explore as to what is going on inside, which is the only way you may ever find out what happened.


Thanks Bee. Being so new to having chickens not sure I can do that.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Well..that's how one learns, you know. 

You can keep asking questions for years as to why this or that bird died or you can get your hands a little dirty and find out why~and then maybe prevent it next time through wise husbandry practices. 

It's a little hard for someone who is not there with the bird to give an educated guess as to what happened, but since she died on the nest after moving a little slow the day before, it could be that she died from a vasovagal response from trying to push out an egg that was bound. Is her comb purple? If so, it could be that she had a heart attack from the vasovagal response. 

If not, she could have had egg peritonitis from internal laying or being egg bound. It's really hard to tell unless someone opens her up and takes a looky loo.


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