Sudden Sick Hen - Any ideas what it may be?

[Revan]

So, I have 1 1/2 year old bantam hen (mix breed). She was doing just fine yesterday as far as I could tell, moving around and eagerly eating with the others, but today she was huddled by the water container and not moving. Her crop is a bit inflated (not overly so, but it is noticeable) and squishy, but I wonder if it's from drinking too much as she keeps dipping her head into the water dish, but she drools most of it back out. Her comb and wattles are very pale, and she's kept her eyes mostly closed. She doesn't react at all when I pick her up and move her around other than opening her eyes a little. She just slumps over wherever I put her. Bone structure seems to be fine, so it's probably something more internal. She did poop, and that looked normal.

Any ideas? I'm wondering if it might be sour crop, but the onset of a bad case seems very sudden to me from her being energetic yesterday to looking dead today.

 

[True Patriot]

Crop problem is the first thing that came to mind with the description you gave. I would check in the morning and see if it empties normally. Do you know how her eggs have been and the last time she laid? If you can a picture will help others to see what you're talking about. Also poop pic. Are there any other symptoms? Pale comb, sneezing, eye problem etc.

 

[Revan]

Yes to the pale comb. No to sneezing and her eyes appear to be normal.

She's part of a relatively new flock of birds I got abut 3 weeks ago, and they are still in quarantine. Six birds, and I got six eggs yesterday, so I assume one was hers. I'll go take a picture of her.

 

[Revan]

Okay, what the heck. So, I carefully took her out of the cage to take a picture, and she SEEMED to be doing better. Looked around a bit. Next thing I know her whole body seizes and I lay her down on the ground and try to help her but then she died. I don't understand what's happened.

 

[Revan]

Both pictures taken just minutes apart.

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry for your loss. Since she was new to you, she could have had coccidiosis or a crop problem. Crops can become slow to empty and puffy with coccidiosis and some other problems. If you refrigerate, but do not freeze, the body in a plastic bag, you can contact your state vet for a necropsy to find a cause of death. If that is not possible, you can do one at home to open her abdominal cavity and take pictures of her organs. Some other possibilities could have be heat exhaustion, egg binding, or other reproductive problem. But since she was by the waterer drinking a lot, a crop impaction or sour crop may have been possible.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is the link to find your state vet or poultry lab to contact about cost and shipping:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[Mama Farley]

I am so sorry. I have had 2 chickens I thought were dying. I gave them Epsom salt baths (chicken spas) and they recovered. I’m still amazed. They weren’t looking very promising. I still have no idea what was wrong with them, just that the spa worked and they are fine. My rooster isn’t looking too good today. He might be getting one tomorrow.

 

[Revan]

I actually had someone come do the necropsy for me.

Apparently nothing I could have done. The bird was filled with yellow fluid, which smelled absolutely horrible. Liver was yellow, other organs were grey-ish in color, and the heart was 3 times larger than it should have been for a bird that size (she was not quite 2 pounds).

Sorry, no more photos. I'm a bit traumatized still that the poor girl died right in my hands and just wanted to bury her under one of the apple trees after we were done poking at her insides.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she could have had egg yolk peritonitis or ascites from heart failure, but I am not an expert on necropsies. A tan liver can be a sign of fatty liver disease. The bad odor sounds like infection from peritonitis. Thatnks for the update about the necropsy. There was nothing that you could have done to save her.