Broody Hen Health Advice

[BackAcre]

Hi All! I joined this forum so I could get advice on my chickens - I am relatively new to ownership, and I tend to be a worrier! I was gifted three 1.5 year old barred rock hens in April of this year and I love having chickens so much, but it has been a rocky and eye opening path! One of the chickens ("Shy") I lost after much work on my part, to what we discovered on x ray was an invasive internal tumor. The remaining chickens (Joan and Gladys) seemed healthy, although one noticebly more robust than the other. Two days ago one of the remaining hens (Gladys) started to go broody and on the same day this happened, the other robust hen (Joan) was killed by a fox while the broody gal was tucked in the coop. I took the remaining broody hen inside the garage in a dog kennel in a double edged attempt to break her broodiness and keep her safe now that she is alone. My big concern is that she is showing all of the classic signs of brooding, just for about 24 hours before I intervened, but I can feel she has lost weight on her breast bone when I handle her. I know this sometimes happens when a hen broods, but likely not so quickly!? It worries me because that was a symptom in Shy when I was trying to heal her, but it turned out she was incurable. I have been feeding my remaining hen anything and everything she will possibly eat since she came inside. She is alert and happy to eat, grooming, walking around. Just thin. She was also treated for coccidia with the other 2 when I was treating the first sick bird. This gal doesn't act sick, but I am concerned! Any advice?

 

[azygous]

Breaking your skinny broody is probably best. It is very taxing on the broody's health incubating eggs for three weeks, then caring for chicks for another four to six weeks. A broody should be storing calories up for the time she won't be eating much instead of starting out with little to no reserves.

Back to the tumor the first hen had. Did anyone tell you what may have caused the tumor? Because tumors in poultry are almost always caused by avian viruses. These viruses are contagious and all chicken that share the same living quarters will be carrying it, and may show symptoms as time goes on. They often do not act sick until it's quite late in the game.

 

[BackAcre]

Thanks for this information! No, we did not identify the tumor, just that there was one. We snapped the xray for our own curiosity - I work at a vet clinic and took it in the euthanize. I had tried treating it for various things the previous two weeks (fly strike, diarrhea, change of feed, coccidia, and finally for being egg bound, because despite the longevity of the illness not seeming like an egg bound issue, it was squatting and had a full, hard feeling bulge in the abdomen) but none of those were working and I decided to stop treating due to how thin it was. These particular hens were owned by a friend of mine, and all three were a lifelong brood. When I picked them up they indicated that one of them was particularly "Shy" and not as lively as the others and had always been that way. I took this at face value until towards the end when it became apparent that there was actually something wrong with the chicken other than being shy. I also realized during this time that Shy hadn't been laying all along - I had no id for their eggs, but once I started treating her for flystrike, I would have noted some eggs with blu-kote streaks on them as hers! My current one seems to be less inclined to brood after a day with no nest, and though she was laying regularly right up until then, I guess I can expect the eggs will stop now. I had been planning to get another chicken or two and replenish the brood. What viruses might I be looking at that would cause tumors and how do I eradicate them?

 

[azygous]

Tumors in chickens are caused by viruses which belong to one of four distinct groups. Marek's disease virus (MDV) is an oncogenic herpesvirus. Avian leukosis virus (ALV), reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) and lymphoproliferative disease virus (LPDV) are oncogenic retroviruses.

Depending on what kind you're dealing with, some are short lived in the environment while others can hang around for years. There is no cure for any of them, and eradication may depend on culling your flock and starting over.

My flock has the leucosis virus. My chickens and I live with it, expecting a chicken to die from it from time to time, although most chickens develop resistance and can live out a normal life span or longer. I have eight, nine and ten year old chickens that are leading normal lives.

Diagnosis is generally made when a chicken dies and you get a necropsy on the body. That's how I learned of the virus in my flock.

 

[BackAcre]

Thank you for all of this information, it gives me a lot to think about. Since this is my only chicken currently, and we are planning to build a new coop and pen shortly, starting over seems relatively easy. Leaving the hen on her own with no more friends in her coop and pen is harder to swallow. Do you know if these viruses can be diagnosed in a blood sample? I will have to do some research if this is in fact what I am dealing with.

 

[azygous]

Yes, they can examine a blood sample and look for DNA markers for these viruses. You'd need to talk to a lab that tests farm animals. I imagine anything to do with DNA won't be cheap, though.

 

[BackAcre]

I thank you so much for all of the information you are sharing with me!

 

[BackAcre]

I just wanted to post an update on this thread for those who helped me: Against my better judgement, my husband persuaded me to have an ELISA done on the last remaining hen from our original flock - and I am so glad, because it came back negative for ALV, which was my concern! I had been planning to cull her rather than introduce her to the new birds I was bringing in, but during the last few weeks, her being an only hen turned her into my husband's little shadow outside, and he became attached and wanted to give her a chance. I am so glad he did! She has regained the weight she was down after losing her mates, and while she does have broody tendancies, she is fairly easy to break and a dependable layer. Now she will get to enjoy the new coop he is building with the big run, and keep adding her pretty light peachy-brown eggs to the new mix of layers!