Black Australorp died unexpectedly please help me understand why

[Bawkbok]

We've had a couple of Australorp x he's go through a similar problem. They weren't as bad off when we gathered them for care as your poor sweet girl was, but their prolapses were far more distended. We washed any feces off of them in plain warm water while they were calm, then suspended them upside to apply raw honey to their bums. We've tried reinsertion, but most of the time it seemed to trigger a bowel movement that distended everything again, we did find though that holding them up by their feet for a little bit did relieve pressure on their backside and enabled everything to go back in on it's own. We kept them inside honey bummed them every day and slipped a tums down their throat for a week keeping them warm and cozy in a cat carrier size cage to limit activity.
They did both seem to recover and were reintroduced to the flock but even with the addition of calcium citrate to their daily feed those two hens did relapse in their conditions. One passing from a torn backside prolapse peck the other we euthanized after realizing it was just going to keep happening to the poor thing and was not healthy nor happy for her to keep going through it.
So sorry for your loss, it can be so hard.
Hopefully this info helps someone.

Thank you for sharing your experience and I'm sorry to hear about your girls. I love the Australorps, their look, their personality, everything about them - except their seemingly small vents.
I appreciate hearing what worked for you for treatment. I feel like we didn't even have a chance to really help her it all happened so very fast. I still don't understand it as she was laying perfectly every day - until she didn't. Her eggs were getting a little larger so I'm thinking she must have been working on a big one that just got stuck. We did not necropsy her but in hindsight I wish I would have to know for sure.

 

[ManOverBoard]

Thank you for sharing your experience and I'm sorry to hear about your girls. I love the Australorps, their look, their personality, everything about them - except their seemingly small vents.
I appreciate hearing what worked for you for treatment. I feel like we didn't even have a chance to really help her it all happened so very fast. I still don't understand it as she was laying perfectly every day - until she didn't. Her eggs were getting a little larger so I'm thinking she must have been working on a big one that just got stuck. We did not necropsy her but in hindsight I wish I would have to know for sure.

 

[cate1124]

This is no longer an emergency but placing here for others who may experience the same issue.

Our 10 month old Australorp, Luna, started laying January 14. Her cadence was as follows:
Jan 16 first egg
Jan 17 no egg
Jan 18 Egg
Jan 19 no egg
Jan 20 Egg
Jan 21 Egg
Jan 22 no egg
Jan 23 Egg
Jan 24 Egg
Jan 25 no egg
Jan 26 Egg
Jan 27 no egg
Jan 28 Egg
Jan 29 no egg
Jan 30 no egg
Jan 31 DIED rapidly within 2 hours of trying to lay an egg.

All of her eggs were perfect in size, texture, color, taste. The yolks were large and orange.

Jan 31, She was free ranging the morning of her death, acting normal, being her chirpy self. The only thing different was that I noticed she didn't poop while out enjoying free time. Then again I could have missed it as I was keeping an eye on the busy sky for vultures and hawks. All poops in the coop and run looked completely normal. She gave me no indication at all something was wrong. We had just performed a health check 5 days prior and all was perfect.
After putting them back in the run, a couple hours later I heard the Buff Orpington screaming up a storm. I run outside to find Luna laying on her side in the run, legs splayed out straight, mouth agape, difficulty breathing, she had a prolapse. I scoop her up and her body was listless. She offered no resistance, this is a bird that never let me get near her. I run her in the house, thinking she was suddenly egg bound which is what caused the prolapse. I'm holding her with one arm filling the sink for an epsom salt bath, she is now trying to fight back, wings flailing. I place her in the soak holding her up with one arm and supporting her very weak, limp neck with my other hand. She cannot hold her head up on her own. She was still alive at this point, barely.
I remove her from the soak and wrap her in several towels and work on her prolapse. I place her on her side on the floor, she resisted slightly. I support her body with one hand holding her still and used Petroleum jelly to gently re-insert the prolapse, it wouldn't stay in. I sprayed vetrycin spray on her and tried giving sugar water slowly and gently in her beak. She was still alive - I think. I tried inserting herself back in, holding her bottom with my hand to help her tissue stay in. It wouldn't. By this time her eyes are partially closed and I think she perished during this process.

Please help me understand what went wrong, what I could have done differently to save her or prevent this in the first place. This happened four days ago but I am just now able to write about it. This loss is so devastating and sudden.

Now for my stupid questions:
1) Should I not have tried to soak her, is this what sent her into the heavens?
2) I never observed her eating any OS on the side, always available to them however. Should I have given her Calcium when she started laying despite the fact she was laying perfect eggs without issue?
3) Should I have given her calcium and a soak on the 30th which was her second consecutive day without an egg and unusual at that point, albeit early in her laying career?
4) Why couldn't I get the prolapse to stay in? What did I do wrong? What should I have done differently?
5) Could the extreme sudden heat have caused this issue? It was 80 and sunny and hot in the run even though it's surround by trees and had an opaque tarp on top. The temperature extreme happened overnight
6) How does one listen for a chicken heart beat to verify life? Where does one place a stethoscope?
7) Until rigor mortis sets in, how do you verify if a chicken is dead? Do they always close their eyes or can they remain open?

As long as her eyes were open, I assumed life. I think I was probably holding a dead chicken in my arms for at least a half hour, supporting her head and neck, supporting her bottom, talking to her.

This is my first experience with a prolapse and I feel total remorse in not recognizing some sign, any sign to take proactive action to avoid it or save her. I've read articles here on how to treat and referenced those - I just didn't have enough time or didn't catch it sooner. They were only in the run for 2-3 hours maximum before I heard the commotion.

Now I'm dealing with complete grief with the remaining two chickens. They have not bonded together as it was Luna who was the glue. Goldie, our sickly non producing comet is in zombie land, just standing around, crying. Her and Luna were best buds, always together. The orpington is the outlier always doing her own thing. I swear these birds are crying now as I've not heard these kind of vocals before, especially at roost time as Luna was always first to go in. They stand in the doorway with these pitiful mournful sounds and are reluctant to go in.

Appreciate insight and feedback so I can learn from my mistakes.


RIP sweet Luna.

I'm responding very late to this, and you've already gotten answers from some of the best on BYC to your question.

So, really what I want to say to you is: These things happen, and they're awful. Heartrending and heartbreaking. It is our nature in the aftermath to question what we did wrong, or what we didn't do that might have prevented the death. You loved this bird, clearly were keeping tabs on her behavior, and nonetheless were confronted abruptly with an emergency of such magnitude that saving her life was an extremely long shot. You gave it your best. I am so sorry.

In 20 years of chicken keeping, black Australorps were my favorites; if I had to have a flock composed of one breed, they would be it. They are beautiful, gentle and hard workers. But I think their impressive egg production creates real vulnerabilities. Of the five black Australorps I had over the years, two died quite young, around a year old. The first was necropsied and came back with fatty liver, which made no sense. The other died before I knew she was having any serious issue; I found an egg in her afterward but don't know if that was coincidental, as I had seen no signs of eggbinding.

I hated losing them, as you hated losing Luna. But grief can really mess with your perspective. Loss is hard, and often will emotionally ambush you. But that does not mean there is anything you could have done to prevent it. I hope you have your new pullets by now and that your flock has re-cohered and they -- as well as you -- have healed a bit. I wish I could say losing them gets easier. I wish.

 

[Bawkbok]

But grief can really mess with your perspective. Loss is hard, and often will emotionally ambush you. But that does not mean there is anything you could have done to prevent it. I hope you have your new pullets by now

Thank you for your very kind words of love and support. Black Australorps are my personal favorite also, she made me fall in love with the breed. She had a tiny round vent and I think that might have been her problem as her eggs kept getting bigger and bigger.
I was just going through the thousands of photos on my phone and of course the heart tugged when I saw Luna's. Dang, I still miss her.

We have three new pullets, all just recently started laying and we also just had to euthanize Luna's best bud due to EYP; a Golden Comet that never produced an egg. Her loss is a big one as she was the previous leader.

One of the new pullets is a Cinnamon Queen - laying perfect eggs for a month but has suddenly starting laying two eggs a day, both are now always soft shelled and she eats OS on the side at will. I don't know what would cause a chicken to start laying two eggs a day but I know her little body can't keep up with this schedule and she can't produce the amount of calcium necessary to harden the shells. We've only had her a short time and I'm concerned she is already starting with reproductive issues.

I keep thinking it would be so wonderful to get through a calendar year without any emergencies, illnesses or death. But I suppose with chickens that is not a realistic hope.

 

[FunClucks]

Thank you for your very kind words of love and support. Black Australorps are my personal favorite also, she made me fall in love with the breed. She had a tiny round vent and I think that might have been her problem as her eggs kept getting bigger and bigger.
I was just going through the thousands of photos on my phone and of course the heart tugged when I saw Luna's. Dang, I still miss her.

We have three new pullets, all just recently started laying and we also just had to euthanize Luna's best bud due to EYP; a Golden Comet that never produced an egg. Her loss is a big one as she was the previous leader.

One of the new pullets is a Cinnamon Queen - laying perfect eggs for a month but has suddenly starting laying two eggs a day, both are now always soft shelled and she eats OS on the side at will. I don't know what would cause a chicken to start laying two eggs a day but I know her little body can't keep up with this schedule and she can't produce the amount of calcium necessary to harden the shells. We've only had her a short time and I'm concerned she is already starting with reproductive issues.

I keep thinking it would be so wonderful to get through a calendar year without any emergencies, illnesses or death. But I suppose with chickens that is not a realistic hope.

I'd get your cinnamon queen some calcium citrate with vit D (human vitamin, around 600 mg) and give her once a day until she stops with the soft shelled eggs. That condition is often fixable. Good luck!!!

 

[Bsmac]

I'm responding very late to this, and you've already gotten answers from some of the best on BYC to your question.

So, really what I want to say to you is: These things happen, and they're awful. Heartrending and heartbreaking. It is our nature in the aftermath to question what we did wrong, or what we didn't do that might have prevented the death. You loved this bird, clearly were keeping tabs on her behavior, and nonetheless were confronted abruptly with an emergency of such magnitude that saving her life was an extremely long shot. You gave it your best. I am so sorry.

In 20 years of chicken keeping, black Australorps were my favorites; if I had to have a flock composed of one breed, they would be it. They are beautiful, gentle and hard workers. But I think their impressive egg production creates real vulnerabilities. Of the five black Australorps I had over the years, two died quite young, around a year old. The first was necropsied and came back with fatty liver, which made no sense. The other died before I knew she was having any serious issue; I found an egg in her afterward but don't know if that was coincidental, as I had seen no signs of eggbinding.

I hated losing them, as you hated losing Luna. But grief can really mess with your perspective. Loss is hard, and often will emotionally ambush you. But that does not mean there is anything you could have done to prevent it. I hope you have your new pullets by now and that your flock has re-cohered and they -- as well as you -- have healed a bit. I wish I could say losing them gets easier. I wish.

Unfortunately I don`t think it does get any easier... Always tough to lose a great bird.

 

[cate1124]

Thank you for sharing your experience and I'm sorry to hear about your girls. I love the Australorps, their look, their personality, everything about them - except their seemingly small vents.
I appreciate hearing what worked for you for treatment. I feel like we didn't even have a chance to really help her it all happened so very fast. I still don't understand it as she was laying perfectly every day - until she didn't. Her eggs were getting a little larger so I'm thinking she must have been working on a big one that just got stuck. We did not necropsy her but in hindsight I wish I would have to know for sure.

Thank you for your very kind words of love and support. Black Australorps are my personal favorite also, she made me fall in love with the breed. She had a tiny round vent and I think that might have been her problem as her eggs kept getting bigger and bigger.
I was just going through the thousands of photos on my phone and of course the heart tugged when I saw Luna's. Dang, I still miss her.

We have three new pullets, all just recently started laying and we also just had to euthanize Luna's best bud due to EYP; a Golden Comet that never produced an egg. Her loss is a big one as she was the previous leader.

One of the new pullets is a Cinnamon Queen - laying perfect eggs for a month but has suddenly starting laying two eggs a day, both are now always soft shelled and she eats OS on the side at will. I don't know what would cause a chicken to start laying two eggs a day but I know her little body can't keep up with this schedule and she can't produce the amount of calcium necessary to harden the shells. We've only had her a short time and I'm concerned she is already starting with reproductive issues.

I keep thinking it would be so wonderful to get through a calendar year without any emergencies, illnesses or death. But I suppose with chickens that is not a realistic hope.

You are most welcome. I think many of the difficulties these hens experience are due to intensive breeding to produce, produce, produce. Consider that wild birds have perhaps 2 or 3 clutches a year, and only during spring/summer. So perhaps a dozen or 18 eggs, total, in a given year. While we get a lot more eggs, our hens suffer the consequences of being bred for human purposes, with less regard to their longevity and well-being. Heritage or dual purpose breeds typically live longer with fewer difficulties than, say, leghorns or golden comets or others bred to churn out as many eggs as possible. But none of these breeds -- including the Australorps we love -- has the physiology of their natural forebears. And reproductive cancer is common even at just a few years old.