Chicken sickness

[cs5aa]

Hello, my hen petunia just passed away a few hours ago but has been sick for a couple weeks now. Could anyone help me figure out what was wrong with her so I could make sure it wasnt contagious since I own others. Her wings were lower than usual, her comb was flopped over and changing dark, she lost her appetite, she started not being able to move, and her last moments were like she was paralyzed. I isolated her a day ago because our other hen started to get her. Im pretty sure it isnt mereks disease because our others are perfectly fine, but we still need to know if we need to santize the whole coop.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Do you want to know for sure what killed her and if any of your other birds are at risk? You need lab work. Do you have the carcass refrigerated?
What state are you in?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello, my hen petunia just passed away a few hours ago but has been sick for a couple weeks now. Could anyone help me figure out what was wrong with her so I could make sure it wasnt contagious since I own others. Her wings were lower than usual, her comb was flopped over and changing dark, she lost her appetite, she started not being able to move, and her last moments were like she was paralyzed. I isolated her a day ago because our other hen started to get her. Im pretty sure it isnt mereks disease because our others are perfectly fine, but we still need to know if we need to santize the whole coop.

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about Penelope.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to know why a hen died without further investigation. Having a necropsy through your state lab will give you the most detailed and accurate account of what caused her decline. If you want to use your lab, double bag the body and refrigerate it, call and make arrangements to send it in.

Sometimes, having a professional necropsy isn't always possible. Some of us do our own looking for anything obvious like Fatty Liver, Reproductive disorders, cancer, etc. While an informal investigation is not always perfect, sometimes it can shed some light on a condition if it's fairly common (like Cancer you'd see tumors, etc.). If you wish to do this yourself, take photos and we'll try to help you with what you see. The main things I look at when doing my own are the major organs, abdominal cavity and reproductive system. I'll post a very good video below, it's a professional necropsy and of course, I certainly can't do one like shown, but the organs are labeled, and he takes time to explain a lot of things, if nothing else, it's very informative.

I do see that she has what looks like a wound, a bit of bloody feathers at her wing, is there a large wound under wing and on her side hidden by feathers? Have you inspected the body closely for signs of injury, wounds, maggots/flystrike or parasites? Some of these things can be contributors to decline.

You can look up your state lab here:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...3IiAZyWkZqh4nV7fs9iQAQLmMu56lbzYIheKRL-efdn1y

 

[PennelopeSpeaks]

I'm sorry sorry about Pentunia, she looks like a lovely hen How old was she? One of my hens of 11 years passed this summer, and had similar symptoms, he'd never had any sort of sickness before but I found him one morning to weak to walk or eat and he passed about an hour later. I believe it was just old age, and could be the same with your hen, but also could be something else.

 

[cs5aa]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about Penelope.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to know why a hen died without further investigation. Having a necropsy through your state lab will give you the most detailed and accurate account of what caused her decline. If you want to use your lab, double bag the body and refrigerate it, call and make arrangements to send it in.

Sometimes, having a professional necropsy isn't always possible. Some of us do our own looking for anything obvious like Fatty Liver, Reproductive disorders, cancer, etc. While an informal investigation is not always perfect, sometimes it can shed some light on a condition if it's fairly common (like Cancer you'd see tumors, etc.). If you wish to do this yourself, take photos and we'll try to help you with what you see. The main things I look at when doing my own are the major organs, abdominal cavity and reproductive system. I'll post a very good video below, it's a professional necropsy and of course, I certainly can't do one like shown, but the organs are labeled, and he takes time to explain a lot of things, if nothing else, it's very informative.

I do see that she has what looks like a wound, a bit of bloody feathers at her wing, is there a large wound under wing and on her side hidden by feathers? Have you inspected the body closely for signs of injury, wounds, maggots/flystrike or parasites? Some of these things can be contributors to decline.



View attachment 4078598

You can look up your state lab here:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...3IiAZyWkZqh4nV7fs9iQAQLmMu56lbzYIheKRL-efdn1y

Sadly the wound was from my other hens pecking at her because she was hardly moving. Thank you so much for the help you provided.

 

[cs5aa]

I'm sorry sorry about Pentunia, she looks like a lovely hen How old was she? One of my hens of 11 years passed this summer, and had similar symptoms, he'd never had any sort of sickness before but I found him one morning to weak to walk or eat and he passed about an hour later. I believe it was just old age, and could be the same with your hen, but also could be something else.

Im pretty sure she was just around 2 years old, so it couldnt have been old age. Im thinking it was a disease or she got a wound I missed and it possibly got infected. I haven’t really inspected her body because it’s a little depressing.