[Under The Hill]

We are away on holiday and have people house sitting and have had a message that my lovely Vera had died.  She was not got by a fox and the other two are fine apparently?  She just died.  She was just over two years old?  Is that a normal age for a chicken to die?  These are my first chickens and this is the first one I have lost, so all new to me?  She was fine when I left, 3 weeks ago, eating fine etc although she had lost a few feathers on her wing but i put that down to malting.  I did have a bit of red mite but thought I had cleared that all up.  Should I be worried about the other two chickens?

Juliet x

[New shoot]

Not nice news for you and a shock for your house sitters as well 

It is young for a bird to die, but it does happen.  I had one just go without warning earlier this year and she was only 2.  She just collapsed and died.  I put it down to her heart as her comb and face went blue, but I don't know for sure.

Chances are that if the other birds look well and are eating and drinking normally, they are fine.

[LILLILEAF]

Sorry you lost your hen,yes it does happen i have kept and bred chickens for 15 yrs,i have lost 1 or 2 hens a long the way, healthy one day and dead the next.We do our best for our birds its not nice when it happens.
  Hopefully the others should be fine

[Sassy]

So sorry to hear about your hen. Depending on her breeding it is possible 2 years is reasonable, eg hybrid hens bred for commercial egg laying. However, regardless of breeding sometimes these things just happen. If you are really worried about your others it is possible to get a post mortem done which would indicate any risk to them.