I lost my first chicken today. I promised myself I wouldn't get attached. But each of the kids picked out a chicken and I chose one too and raised it from a little puff ball. My Buff Orpington, Butterball died today. We can't figure out what happened. It wasn't too hot today. They had fresh food and water as always and she was fine last night when I locked them up. I went out this evening to give them some dinner leftovers and she was laying inside the coop dead. She was only about 16 weeks old and the friendliest of our 6. Do chickens normally drop dead for no apparent reason? Her crop wasn't enlarged and she had been eating and acting normal? We wonder if something got into the run, but there was no blood or puncture marks. just several feathers around the run.
You need to do a Neocropsy on them, there is always a reason. There are plenty of anatomy pictures on the web, on YouTub there are videos of chicken Neocropsy. I rely on common sense, and knowing what a healthy heart and liver look like, I am building knowlage of other intestines from Processing chickens, starting with last weeks party.
From input from other members of BYC, it appears that Conjunctive heart failure, the heart is in a water sack, in larged jondus liver is another. Heavy duel purpose seem most likely, but I do not know for sure. The meaties are diffenitly prone to alments do to their fast grouth.
Remember the hearts and livers you get in the store today are from genetically sick birds, the hearts and livers are inlarged and fatty.
The last Neocropsy I did was not in depth, I found her heart did have a small water sack, putting stress on the heart. Not sure yet if it was too fatty, I have more to learn. Her liver was slightly yellow, large but not inlarged. The lower intestines did not look quit right, she dad been suffering from pasty butt, May have been infected. She had not been laying, and she had recently started to develop eggs, the largest the size of a marble. Pecker was a very heavy girl, I am guessing, I have been giving them to much rich or fat producing food treats, indicated by fat deposits on heat and other locations, water sack around heart stressing her, combined with the treatment for Pasty Butt too late, as she started to improve she started to developer eggs. Just to much for her.
I had started soaking her rump in warn/hot water, putting Bag Balm on the area, pluse adding Briggs Apple Cider vinegar with Mother to their water and extra to their fermented feed before giving it to them, I have been giving plain yogurt as well. She is the only one that had the problem, but they all benifeted from the addition to their diet.
I theorize I am killing them with love, to may Special high in fat producing treats, fresh corn being one of them. Corn not good in the summer...... Really not good. I was giving what I thought only a little, that is impossible to do. She was among the high ranking girls, she eat more them the others, some, I am sure were lucky to get one beak full of any thing.
