Chicken dying - Eggbound?

[Mamalana]

Hi y'all.

When I went into the coop this morning I found one of my Australorps laying on the floor under the roosting bars. When I picked her up I saw she has a large protrusion on her backside. Is there anything I can dobtobhelp her or is she too far along?

I read somewhere that you can put them in an Epsom salt soak and put castor oil in the vent, but I don't know if she is too far along with her problem.

I moved her out of the coop.
Here are some photos.
Thank you so much.

 

[Mamalana]

She died. I guess, now I am wondering what happened. How could I have prevented this? And is it safe to eat her son she doesn't go to waste?

 

[Saveria]

It looks like a prolapse. Usually there is a stuck egg that causes it, but there was probably other stuff going on, or she had it for a while and she was hiding it from you if she died so quickly.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ng-from-vent-prolapse-oh-my-what-to-do.76124/

I unfortunately cannot weigh in on if she is safe to eat, but I would refrigerate her body until someone can advise.

 

[Mamalana]

Thanks Saveria. I am pretty sad. We are still moving in and feeling a bit overwhelmed with the transition. I need to do an overall wellness check on these hens, but they won't let me touch them. I feel bad that I didn't catch it chicken earlier, she was definitely hiding it, roosting up until this morning when she fell onto the ground.

I've never had so many chickens before. As of now we have 32 birds that came with the property (malnourished and skiddish) and 20 from our own flock (3 hens we brought from Minnesota, 4 I hatched ans 9 I bought as straight run (all of which needed up being 10 cockerels and 3 pullets), so I bought 4 more pullets.

Keeping track of everyone is a lot of mental bandwidth. Lol

 

[Eggcessive]

She may have had a prolapse, but she probably was vent pecked and cannibalized by the other chicken. They will peck at red color. A prolapse can happen when straining to lay and egg or to poop. Sometimes pecking feathers will lead to vent pecking. You might find more by opening her body to look at her organs, and to look for a stuck egg. Make sure that no others are pecking each other, and that they have plenty of room. Are they getting outside to roam around? It sounds also like they are upset about the pecking order. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since they are new hens to you, I would make sure they are getting a layer feed, crushed oyster shell and poultry grit in separate containers. If there is any bullying of your 2 hens, you may need to slowly integrate them through fencing or a wire dog crate with food and water.

 

[Saveria]

Thanks Saveria. I am pretty sad. We are still moving in and feeling a bit overwhelmed with the transition. I need to do an overall wellness check on these hens, but they won't let me touch them. I feel bad that I didn't catch it chicken earlier, she was definitely hiding it, roosting up until this morning when she fell onto the ground.

I've never had so many chickens before. As of now we have 32 birds that came with the property (malnourished and skiddish) and 20 from our own flock (3 hens we brought from Minnesota, 4 I hatched ans 9 I bought as straight run (all of which needed up being 10 cockerels and 3 pullets), so I bought 4 more pullets.

Keeping track of everyone is a lot of mental bandwidth. Lol

Wow, that makes complete sense. Sometimes they will react better if you check them at night with a headlamp when they are on the roost.

Totally not your fault, they are programmed to act like nothing is wrong since they are flock animals.

 

[Mamalana]

Since they are new hens to you, I would make sure they are getting a layer feed, crushed oyster shell and poultry grit in separate containers. If there is any bullying of your 2 hens, you may need to slowly integrate them through fencing or a wire dog crate with food and water.

Thanks for the advice. We already buried her, otherwise I would have done an autopsy. I didng even think about it. The kids wanted to do a little funeral for her. It didn't look like she was pecked, as it wasn't bleeding, rather it looked like an internal explosion that didn't break skin. The prolapse was covered in poop too. I have been watching the hens (no extremely well, I guess) and didn't notice anything bulging before today. So, if she had a prolapse it wasn't very obvious.

I have been giving them layer feed and oyster/cooked and crushed egg shells. They are free range birds and get plenty of grit and dust baths all over the homestead. There are a couple of hens with feathers missing, but since I switched them from corn to layer feed the feathers have been growing back.

We had a chicken who had diarrhea and died when we first bought the property. I cleaned out the coop with vinegar and water and dewormed them since then. I don't know it this is related to the other death or just a different issue due to the malnutrition.

What a journey.