Loss of Mrs Paxo

Hi all
I lost one of my favorite buff orps this morning (Mrs Paxo) she wasn't showing any signs of illness yesterday during the day or in the evening when we put her and Mr Paxo away.
He now seems to be pineing as they had been together for months. Not sure what to do with him as if whatever killed Mrs Paxo is contagious i don't want to chance putting any other hen in with him, just in case she gets it. any suggestions???

Hi,
Sorry for your loss  I have found this sometimes happens with Buff Orpingtons, I lost one last year, she was fine in the morning then when I went to coleect eggs in the afternoon she had died, all of the others where fine. I also lost one like this when I first started keeping chickens years ago.

Michelle xx

She seemed fine, she didn't have a protroding breast bone so i guess her weight was fine, if that makes sense, i could feel the breast meat on her, she wasn't that old yr to 18months at the most. Just the Buff cock is now walking round looking for her, i don't know if they get lonely, but where he is housed he can't even see the other chooks. He is showing no sign of illness, so i am hoping he is fine. Seems so strange going in the pen and her not coming up for a cuddle, she was so tame.
She had no mucky rear end, no discharge from eyes or nose, and was eating and drinking yesterday.

It's not a good idea to keep chx on their own so I'd try and replace her with a couple of new hens if possible (Sage & Onion) asap as there's no indication it was a contagious disease.  If they are running with a cock it's better to have at least two hens that way they don't get constantly chased about.   

Could have been Sudden Death Syndrome or some heart related problem.  Orps being heavy birds overweight is more likely to be a problem than underweight.  I've had hens happily scratting away and the next minute they have keeled over and died in a matter of a couple of minutes.   

If you are confident there were no noticable symptoms indicating illness and the cock is fine then it's not likely to be due to an infectious disease.
Regards