Buff orpington pullet dead with no sign of why!

[chickensRcute]

I just found my buff orpington dead under our raised coop tonight. There didn't seem to be any sign of why she died. Her comb and wattles where dark blue to purple in color. I don't know if this is a normal thing for the coloring after death, or if this is a clue to what may have killed her. She was only five months old and has been doing great. The other chickens seem fine and I guess I was just covering all bases and making sure there isn't some illness or bug that would get the other hens. If you have any Ideas, that would be great. Thank you in advance!

 

[al6517]

Sometimes birds just die and the reasons elude us, it's normal and does happen more frequently than we like to admit. Blue/purple wattles after death or just prior to usualy means Oxygen deprevation of some kind, the actual cause may still never be known exactly.

 

[chickensRcute]

Thank you for letting me know about the coloring of the wattles and comb, I had thoughts about the possibility that she may have broken her neck or something, but where and how I found her didn't seem like she did. I guess she could have done that but it just seemed odd. She was laying in the corner and just looked so peaceful that I just couldn't figure it out. I hope this doesn't have any affect on the rest of my chickens, ie... no illness or anything that can get them. My one good thing out of this is that I have another reason to love my dog! She is the one that alerted us that something was not quite right. She has always been good at that and now I am patting her on the back for a job well done!

 

[al6517]

I suspect it to be an isolated incident, but keep an eye out anyway just in case.

 

[chicken farmer 1997]

coccidosis?

 

[enjoyin' my chickens]

I feel your pain for the loss. I have experienced this in two of my birds this week. One of which was a 5 month BO and the other was a 3 month SLW. They just laid down and went to sleep. I have my other BO that was doing the same thing yesterday and I removed my alpha roo from the run, thinking that he was trying to mate with her and possibly end up killing her ( DW thinks that is what happened to the 1st BO). I was just hoping that I could save her. She is still with us this morning but we will see as the day goes on. Once again my condolences to you.

 

[chickensRcute]

Thank you for your support! So far every one is doing good!

I will clean and disinfect everything just to keep the others healthy! Here is a pic of my pullet that passed. I think she was so pretty, and she got first place in the fair.

 

[OvertheHenHouse]

Oh, shoot - she's beautiful. I love buff orps, and I'm so sorry for your loss - and hope you can figure out what might have killed her.

 

[ronott1]

Quote:
Hi chickensRcute,

One of my Black Australorps died suddenly on Wednesday the 14th. She was fine in the morning and I am fairly sure she laid an egg that day.

Here in California, there is a state agency for Agriculture animal health CAHFS(California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory System) that will perform a Necropsy for free for Back Yard chickens. They work with the University of California. I dropped her off there on Thursday and am waiting to hear the results. I will let you know what they say. Is there a place in Ohio that does a free Necropsy?

Her four other BA sisters seem fine. I also have three RIR and two Golden Comets and they seem fine too. I am watching them very closely. I had a scare yesterday when one of them was in the nest box in the morning when I let them out(sign of illness when they don't come out of the coop in the morning), so I checked on her and she did that kind of growl\\scream they do when laying an egg and they are disturbed. About 20 minutes later I heard the egg song and there was and egg! I am on a schedule for health maintenance of the chickens and it is time to worm them, so on Saturday I started two days of Ivermecten in their water. I will repeat that in 14 days. I will change their water today and give them chick saver electrolyte since it is going to be 96 or so here for the next week. I will wait until I here back from the Necropsy before I give them any other treatment.

Bye and hoping there will be no more dead chickens

Ron

 

[ronott1]

Hi to All,

UCD sent me the preliminary report on my Pullet Nella today. She died of liver rupture. The other tests were negative and she was a healthy chicken. The report said this was a condition of unknown origin but effected some breeds more than others and was associated with over weight birds and the rupture was more likely to happen during hot weather with hens of egg producing age.

I am so relieved!

I don't have worry about the rest of my flock! I have been stressing since last Wednesday...

Ron