They sometimes hide it well. Feel around the vent area. Even now, if it was egg binding that killed her, you should be able to distinctly palpate the egg within her. At least it will give you an answer as to if she was egg bound or not.

My aruacauna banty hen died suddenly also.
One day she was happy and healthy, the next day she was dead, with her egg half way out. I have never seen this before. Has anyone else?
lynda.

Before we buried her I did feel around the vent and it did feel like there was an egg.

I hear so much about hens being egg bound. Does anyone know what exactly causes it? Diet perhaps? Is there any way it can be avoided?

Poor diet, lack of excercise, excess weight, genetics, breed type, sickness. Sometimes there is no know cause. All the conditions seen proper, and there are no known contributing factors, yet still it happens. Same with humans or all other animals. Occasionally you'll hear of someone who gets plenty of excercise, eats a low fat, low cholesterol diet, is not over weight, does not smoke, and had no family history, yet still he'll have a heart attack.

Having said all of that, becoming egg bound is still extremely rare. All the books love to mention it, for the simple fact that it is one of the few conditions in chickens that when it does happen, is readily identifiable to the average person, even if it's after death. They have to put something in the chapter on diseases, and this one has so many opinions on how to recognize and treat it, that it takes up some good print space. Most other diseases or conditions have such vague or similar symptoms, that it's difficult to explain in writing how to tell one from another, and often you can't without lab testing.

Frequently, the average person will blame egg binding as the cause of sickness or death, because a sick chicken is showing the signs according to the books. Sick or extremely stressed chicken almost always act in a similar way. They may become egg bound as a result of becoming weak from some other underlying cause, and that's more often the case than simple egg binding with no other factor. Prolapse is often confused with egg binding, and they are sometimes related, but in my experience, prolapse is much more common than simple egg binding.

I had two chickens that died suddenly but I don't think they where egg bound does anyone know of an other reason a chicken might die suddenly for no apperent reason?