[jamest10]

Hi there

First time chicken owner. Had three free range chickens for about a year with no problems.

I went to check for eggs this morning and one of the chickens was in the house, looking really lethargic and generally poorly. She was sitting on the perch, with her feathers down and struggling to keep her eyes open. Also she was really struggling to breath. She would straighten her neck and open her beak and stick the tongue out for every breath. Her comb was also going a shade of purple.
There was a little bit of diarrhoea which was white/yellow/greeny.

Initially I googled the symptoms and thought she had had a problem with her crop so I gently massaged it, but didn't seem to make a difference.

I filled up a box with hay and placed her in it and drove to the farm I purchased her from. On the way, unfortunately, she sounded like she was in so much pain and had a fit and was knocking around the box for 20-30 seconds, then stopped. When I arrived she had passed and was on her back not breathing. No one could really help me as they weren't trained vets (or seem to know much about chickens to give me a proper insight as to what could've cause this).
They said she looked really healthy (apart from the comb) her back passage looked clean and therefore said they didn't know what happened.

I have looked on the net and thought it could be a respiratory disease or gapeworm, but these seem to be relatively treatable and haven't read of anyone talking about these sysmptoms and five hours later the hen is dead.

Any help would be really appreciated.
If it help's I think she may not have layed for 3 days.


Thanks in advance people

[PaulineM]

Hi
I am relatively new to keeping chooks so I can't help diagnose the illness but what age was your girl 

[8doubles]

The purple comb sounds a bit like heart problems, blue lips being a similar sign in humans.

[bantam novice]

I'm so sorry to hear about your hen   
It sounds as if she could have had a respiratory infection, in which case you need to keep an eye on your other chooks.  I'm not very experienced and I'm sure someone with more experience will be along shortly to advise you.

[jamest10]

Only a year old.

Unfortunately when I arrived at the farm they couldn't help diagnose the cause of death (unsurprisingly). There's a vet's clinic round the corner from them, but I can't really justify the £60 for a post-mortem.

They did however say that she looked very healthy (pardon the irony) and sometimes these anomalies happen...it's just nature.

I did however receive a call from a vet I called earlier in the day (somewhat irrelevant now) and described the symptoms. He seems to think it was Egg Peritonitis, which usually ends in fatality.
Very sad, but these things happen and at least she's not in pain anymore.

[sneezer]

I'm sorry to hear about your girl, I would say it was more to do with the heart with the comb colour, egg peritonitus is treatable as one of my hens is just getting over it after 10 days of anti biotics, also she would of had messy vent area, don't beat yourself up about it, sounds like she had a great life.x

[Jane-M]

Don't feel bad. Chooks have a bad habit of up and dying without much warning. I had to cull one a couple of years ago who went into heart failure - and I think your girl may have had the same. Blue/purple comb and shortness of breath. NOthing you could have done to predict or prevent this.

[beth123]

Hi there

I know how upsetting it is when you loose your chooks.  I only had mine a few weeks and lost one.  It really surprised me how fast they go down hill,  hope it doesn't put you off.   

[Pol]

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear about your hen 

[Jeanette]

I am so sorry to hear about your girl. Chickens are very good at hiding there symptons when they are ill (survival of the fittest)  so dont feel to bad about it. Being as she had a  blue/purple comb and had trouble breathing i would say she had a heart attack, it has happened to a couple of my girls and there is nothing you could do.