- Mar 12, 2012
- 8
- 0
- 7
Our broilers are now ready to be processed - they're around 8 weeks old. However, we have had 4 or 5 seemingly healthy birds die in the last week for no apparent reason. When we water them in the late afternoon/early evening, everyone is fine. Then when we come to move their pens in the morning, there's just a dead chicken lying on it's back, legs up. My husband dissected the dead one this morning to see if he could find any clues as to why this is happening. Here is what he found:
-distended abdomen
-stomach full of yellow, gelatin-like blobs
The other organs looked okay as far as we could tell & the skin & feathers showed no sign of injury or infection. We tried to research online & found some information that led us to believe that these birds are possibly dying of heart failure. The article stated the main cause is internal organs not being able to keep up with the bird's rapid growth.....
Any help/insight into this mystery would be MUCH appreciated! We are really at a loss, as this did not happen when we raised broilers last summer. Thank you.
-distended abdomen
-stomach full of yellow, gelatin-like blobs
The other organs looked okay as far as we could tell & the skin & feathers showed no sign of injury or infection. We tried to research online & found some information that led us to believe that these birds are possibly dying of heart failure. The article stated the main cause is internal organs not being able to keep up with the bird's rapid growth.....
Any help/insight into this mystery would be MUCH appreciated! We are really at a loss, as this did not happen when we raised broilers last summer. Thank you.
