Hello. We had one of our hens pass today. We had been keeping an eye on her, not because she was acting I’ll or unusual, just that she laid all winter long (MN USA) and then stopped as soon as the other 5 hens started to lay again. Unfortunately, she’s not one that lets us get too near her so I was never able to physically examine her.
I didn’t want to instruct or have my husband look into how to do a necropsy, so I just had him open her up to check for egg binding or sour crop, which would be more obvious issues. When he opened her belly, it was very thick with fat and drained a very large amount of yellow fluid. I have a picture I can post but it doesn’t really show much more than the amount of fat in her. Her comb was deep purple though.
about her: she is a black majesty maran. Hatched in the early spring of 2021. She has been a good layer and even laid all through the winter even though her comrades had stopped. She never looked like she had gained weight and she never showed any signs of distress. She stopped laying maybe sometime in March.
Nov of 2021, we noticed 5 of the 6 hens had feather issues, we kept an eye on that. By February-ish, we put one hen down as she had become paralyzed and had some major eye issues as well. We suspected Marek’s and ordered a test. The lab confirmed a positive on Marek’s and we assumed that all the hens with feather issues were likely positive as well.
My guess is Marek’s > Fatty Liver > Ascites. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I didn’t want to instruct or have my husband look into how to do a necropsy, so I just had him open her up to check for egg binding or sour crop, which would be more obvious issues. When he opened her belly, it was very thick with fat and drained a very large amount of yellow fluid. I have a picture I can post but it doesn’t really show much more than the amount of fat in her. Her comb was deep purple though.
about her: she is a black majesty maran. Hatched in the early spring of 2021. She has been a good layer and even laid all through the winter even though her comrades had stopped. She never looked like she had gained weight and she never showed any signs of distress. She stopped laying maybe sometime in March.
Nov of 2021, we noticed 5 of the 6 hens had feather issues, we kept an eye on that. By February-ish, we put one hen down as she had become paralyzed and had some major eye issues as well. We suspected Marek’s and ordered a test. The lab confirmed a positive on Marek’s and we assumed that all the hens with feather issues were likely positive as well.
My guess is Marek’s > Fatty Liver > Ascites. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
