911!!

[B_Chickle01]

I'm so sorry you are going through this grief with losing these chickens. It's deeply scary not knowing what is causing this. I was perplexed over the mucous in the mouth and the black substance in the poop, and both those symptoms can indicate poisoning. Usually, toxic poisoning kills quickly, but rodent poison kills slowly.

I'm glad you are going to fight for some answers. Call here and they will be able to tell you where to get the necropsy.

Animal Health Diagnostic Center​

240 Farrier Road
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: (607) 253-3900
Fax: (607) 253-3943
Email: [email protected]
Business Hours
Monday-Friday:
8:00am-5:00pm
Saturdays (limited service):
9:00am-1:00pm

Thanks again! For everything. It is scary but having you guys to walk me through things seriously does help! I’m so paranoid tho with the rest of my babies! I feel like me just waiting for the next one to get sick again b4 treatment is a huge gamble. The past 3 happened just like that and well you know how that went I swear if it’s poison I’m going to flip my lid and I’m going to knock on every neighbors door until I find out who and let them know how frigged up it is using poison and that it cost me 3 of my babies lives. Not just my chickens what about other wild birds and animals? Or peoples cats or other pets?! If it possibly is poison though how come my other two didn’t have poops like that or sticky saliva? Idk it’s making nuts!

 

[B_Chickle01]

@azygous These marks on my Duccle Roo in photo I attached below.. they are just like peck wounds right?!! He’s one of the other younger flocks of mine. He’s not in same coop as Charlie was BUT he’s in same one that Big Mama was in (our 2-3yr old Orpington we took in) and my 1yr old Silver laced SB Peppermint that passed a week before her.

 

[B_Chickle01]

@B_Chickle01 , I have followed along silently during your hard fight to save your Charlie. I am so sorry she didn't make it.

You must surely be exhausted by now. And being as today is Friday, you may need to get her body to a lab for necropsy Today. (Unless the lab performs necropsies on weekend days too.) Meaning you may need to drive her there yourself. If that is the case, a friend or family member who will drive while you ride along as a passenger would be easier for you. Exhaustion and distress are never good combinations, especially when driving.

Re your sadness at not being able to bury her, after her necropy is completed you may be able to request cremation and have her ashes returned to you. Also, consider clipping a few of her beautiful feathers to keep. And you (and your kids) can still make a memorial to Charlie. For example you can make a gravestone by painting a rock with her name on it, you can hold a backyard memorial service with your kids, & you can bury her feathers if its really important to you to at least have a part of her there.

During Charlie's last hours, she surely felt your comfort and care. Her opening her eyes to gaze directly at you just before she passed was her way of showing her gratitude. I hope that by having a necropsy performed, you can learn her cause of death and prevent future losses in your flock.

Ahh dang here come the water works that’s really sweet of you thank you! I’ve been convincing myself that was the case to try and soften the blow a tiny bit! At least me thinking she knew she wasn’t alone and felt the love and comfort as she passed means so much to me. But I did keep a couple feathers of hers like we did with our others! For me and the girls. And we have a little memorial we light candle for them inside. We buried them right on the other side of the enclosed out door run (pic below)so it’ll be like they are still part of their flock and hanging with them.The ashes are a good idea i didn’t think of that! I didn’t even know it could be an option with live stock honestly. But I’m hoping so cause my daughters birthday was last night and because it was a school night we didn’t have the family over for cake so we’re doing it tonight! I’m trying to get things situated around here and disinfect the coops and stuff.

 

[azygous]

The pretty boy just has pecking scabs.

As much experience that some of us have with sick and injured chickens, it's still just a guessing game when we try to help on this forum. Speaking for myself, I consider the description of the behaviors, symptoms, geographical location, and history of the flock when I try to make sense of what could be causing an issue, then I apply my trusted intuition which has the handy ability to synthesize all of my experience, and I come up with the most plausible explanation.

But it's not the same as hands on, being there in person observations. And nothing comes even close to a lab necropsy by trained, experienced scientists. That's the only place you can be assured of getting real answers. Have you called the Cornell lab yet? They will be able to tell you the closest lab where you can take Charlie's body. And you need to get her there today. As terrifying as living with these unknowns is, you can trust me when I say you will feel tremendous relief once you know what killed her.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

BUT he’s in same one that Big Mama was in (our 2-3yr old Orpington we took in)

How long did you have Big Mama before she became sick and died, and where did you get her?

 

[B_Chickle01]

The pretty boy just has pecking scabs.

As much experience that some of us have with sick and injured chickens, it's still just a guessing game when we try to help on this forum. Speaking for myself, I consider the description of the behaviors, symptoms, geographical location, and history of the flock when I try to make sense of what could be causing an issue, then I apply my trusted intuition which has the handy ability to synthesize all of my experience, and I come up with the most plausible explanation.

But it's not the same as hands on, being there in person observations. And nothing comes even close to a lab necropsy by trained, experienced scientists. That's the only place you can be assured of getting real answers. Have you called the Cornell lab yet? They will be able to tell you the closest lab where you can take Charlie's body. And you need to get her there today. As terrifying as living with these unknowns is, you can trust me when I say you will feel tremendous relief once you know what killed her.

Ok good! I figured as much but everything is going to be treated as suspect until I confirm. I know it’s super hard because a lot of the symptoms mimic about a billion other illnesses! My silkies that we’re hatched in July also were part of Charlie’s flock.. they were running their mouths today even more then usual like they were wondering where the hell their Charlie is! You know what’s weird too.. Charlie would peck at the ground and make noises and draw the silkies attention to treats and such like a Roo does with his ladies.. I wonder if she was like their seeing eye chicken lol cause of all that fluff they can’t see even tho I’ll trim them. Is that common though for a female to do that with other females? I’ve heard of hens that’ll crow but not this! But Yep the closest lab is Ithaca Ny! It’s almost 4hrs from me!

 

[B_Chickle01]

How long did you have Big Mama before she became sick and died, and where did you get her?

Big mama was here shortly after getting our older flock that’s a little over a year. So wasn’t her. We took her in for my fiancés coworker.. her original flock was wiped out from some kind of predator she was only one who survived and she became attached to him as they will when they have no other flock mates. But yea these were her stomping grounds well before theirs lol

 

[azygous]

There is just as much fluidity in gender roles among chickens as there are among humans and other animals of Planet Earth. Your observations are quite good. Those hens will miss Charlie.

Four hours to the lab is prohibitive. If you saved a sample of Charlie's final poop, it would be well worth the time to find a vet who can send it to their lab for you for the fecal float and bacteria gram stain tests. It should hold up if kept cold.

Next, and this isn't going to be easy to contemplate, you can do a home-style necropsy on Charlie's body yourself. It's understandable that most people we suggest this to immediately reject this idea. I'd say just 2% are game to do it. It does require shifting yourself into a very clinical and emotionally detached state.

If you decide to take this on, it would involve a bare minimum of opening the abdominal cavity, exposing the organs, and taking a quick look for anything that appears out of the ordinary. A lot of the time, if there is something compelling to find, it's staring you right in the face, it's so obvious. Things like a liver ten times larger than you'd expect a chicken liver to be or an abdominal cavity awash in a murky brown liquid with bean size tumors floating in it, exciting stuff like that. You can get a general idea that a pathology was at work.

The fecal tests can add the scientific underpinings to what you see inside of your hen. It can tell you the name of the bacteria that killed her. Or that there was no bacteria found. It will also tell you if she had coccidiosis or heavy worm load. What it can't tell you is if a poison killed her or an avian virus, but if you find tumors when you look inside her, you will have a pretty good idea a virus had caused the tumors, but not which one.

Lastly, if you take photos of the contents of her body, some of us here may be able to spot something and recognize it to supply a little more information. For example, one very young hen that died suddenly in my flock had an impressive collection of what appeared to be hard boiled eggs in her abdominal cavity. We all learn from each other here, and I posted a thread on my findings from that home necropsy. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/internal-laying-what-it-looks-like.1349959/ If you find something like that in your hen, you'll know it's something that's not likely to kill more of your chickens.

 

[B_Chickle01]

There is just as much fluidity in gender roles among chickens as there are among humans and other animals of Planet Earth. Your observations are quite good. Those hens will miss Charlie.

Four hours to the lab is prohibitive. If you saved a sample of Charlie's final poop, it would be well worth the time to find a vet who can send it to their lab for you for the fecal float and bacteria gram stain tests. It should hold up if kept cold.

Next, and this isn't going to be easy to contemplate, you can do a home-style necropsy on Charlie's body yourself. It's understandable that most people we suggest this to immediately reject this idea. I'd say just 2% are game to do it. It does require shifting yourself into a very clinical and emotionally detached state.

If you decide to take this on, it would involve a bare minimum of opening the abdominal cavity, exposing the organs, and taking a quick look for anything that appears out of the ordinary. A lot of the time, if there is something compelling to find, it's staring you right in the face, it's so obvious. Things like a liver ten times larger than you'd expect a chicken liver to be or an abdominal cavity awash in a murky brown liquid with bean size tumors floating in it, exciting stuff like that. You can get a general idea that a pathology was at work.

The fecal tests can add the scientific underpinings to what you see inside of your hen. It can tell you the name of the bacteria that killed her. Or that there was no bacteria found. It will also tell you if she had coccidiosis or heavy worm load. What it can't tell you is if a poison killed her or an avian virus, but if you find tumors when you look inside her, you will have a pretty good idea a virus had caused the tumors, but not which one.

Lastly, if you take photos of the contents of her body, some of us here may be able to spot something and recognize it to supply a little more information. For example, one very young hen that died suddenly in my flock had an impressive collection of what appeared to be hard boiled eggs in her abdominal cavity. We all learn from each other here, and I posted a thread on my findings from that home necropsy. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/internal-laying-what-it-looks-like.1349959/ If you find something like that in your hen, you'll know it's something that's not likely to kill more of your chickens.

I can tell they miss her! My Sebright Roo still hasn’t been his normal assholish self since Big Mama. Big Mama was his favorite she walked around like she was a Mob Boss cause of him ahh I never knew how hilarious and how much personality chickens had until I first became a chicken mom. I agree with the lab as well! But I still had her cold to wait and see if you think it would be worth it. I’ll bury her tomorrow. Yes I have that sample as well. How long will it hold up cold? And it’s funny you mention that because last night I was endlessly searching and reading illnesses in other peoples chickens and I did read.. I thought a couple Necropsy’s either you did or commented on(still don’t know how to fully operate this page) as well as a few of other people who did their own. Saw a couple people who’s chickens had Mereks and their poor little livers were spotted up like a cheetah. I would be open to that..just not at the moment. I think later on down the road when I’m no longer traumatized from the amount of chickens I had to watch die this year. Because I did find it all very interesting and I think it’s pretty awesome to be able to just do it your self and not have to worry about a Lab!

 

[Ada06]

Aww praying for you!! I have been following, as I had a similar issue in my flock, that I still have not figured out. I took one in for necropsy and all they said it was is: emaciated. But that wasnt the problem. I hope you can figure it out, and no more chickens of yours die!!