Chicken sudden death – what could be the cause?

[aptenodytes]

One of my chickens has just died, and I have no idea why.

Bernadette was bought from the local poultry merchant in June, along with three other youngsters. She was always very flighty and frightened. She was initially very frightened of my older chickens - and with good reason, since the four older birds gave the four newcomers a tough time, at first - and initially she was also terrified of me. However, this soon changed. Because she was too afraid to come with the rest of the gang and eat from a bowl of 'treats' that I was holding, I used to feed her behind my back, from my hand, and this soon resulted in a very great attachment to me. Soon, she was rushing to greet me and also trying to leave the pen with me! Naturally, this made her a great favourite of mine.

A week ago, I noticed that Bernadette had become as big and perhaps even a little bit heavier than her companions. She was now holding her own at the feeders and although just as hyper she was no longer clingy. I was proud of her.

Then, late yesterday afternoon, I noticed that Bernadette was off colour. She wasn't rushing up to eat the diced courgette and wheat kernels with the others. I took her out of the pen and was surprised to notice that she seemed a bit lighter. I fed her on her own. She ate half an egg (which is my usual offering for chickens which seem a bit under the weather) but she left most of the courgette and wheat.

When I put her back in the pen, she went to lie down in the dust bath.
This was totally out of character. But as it had been a hot day, and because one of the older chickens was also lying in a dust bath of her own creation, nearby, I decided to let things be. I prepared the hospital coop, just in case; but when I went to shut them in, Bernadette was up on a perch - albeit, she was not on her usual perch. She had tucked herself away in a corner, separate from the others.

This morning, when I went to let the birds out at dawn, Bernadette didn't emerge and I found her standing in the corner. I cleaned out the coop, as usual, and then, since she still hadn't moved into the pen I brought her into the house.

The chicken collapsed into my lap. She sipped the water which I offered, but only took a couple of mouthfuls each time. She ignored all offerings of food of any sort.

I put her in a comfortable box. She definitely didn't want to be in the sunshine; she seemed to wince from that, so I put her in a dark corner. She dozed, and I occasionally offered her water. Half an hour later, she struggled out of the box to poop on the floor. (Good little girl!) Her poop seemed normal: one little squiggle of poo, with a white end, in a small puddle of clear liquid. Not perfect, perhaps - the perfect ones are bigger and don't have the liquid - but I've seen this sort before many times.
Then she got back into the box.

Half an hour later I lifted her out to offer her more water. I sat her on my lap. Hey eyes remained closed. She could barely hold up her head.
One of my older chickens was in this state a couple of years ago, and she pulled through, but I was fairly sure that I was going to lose this one. Even so, I had no idea that the end would come so suddenly.

Bernadette was sitting on my lap, sleeping, when suddenly she began to twitch. She thrust her head backwards and tried to peck under her wing.
I sat her upright on the floor, and she immediately keeled over, twitched violently, and within five seconds was dead!

After she died, a small pool of pale brown liquid appeared from her beak.
Before this, nothing had come out of her beak.

I checked inside her mouth, I checked her vent, and I examined her body. All seems normal.

WHAT KILLED THIS CHICKEN?!!!

I don't know whether Bernadette ever laid an egg. I know that the other three youngsters are laying, but I'm not sure about this one.
She doesn't appear to be egg bound, but since I've no experience of this problem I can't say for sure.

 

[LaFleche]

I am sorry you lost her.

All would be guesswork from afar, so I recommend to have her necropsied by your state vet lab to know the true reason.

 

[Kiki]

What exactly had you been feeding her?
You can refrigerate the body and send it to your state lab to get an answer.
What state are you in?

 

[Eggcessive]

I am sorry that you lost your pullet. It is hard to know exactly what killed her. The brown liquid from her crop might have been an indication of a crop disorder. It sounds as though you are in Europe, not the US, where we can have out state vets do a necropsy after death. Sometimes if we do those at home, opening the abdomen and having a look at the major organs can help with a possible diagnosis. Pictures of those organs can be posted here. If you want to do that here is a video with the organs listed:

 

[aptenodytes]

Thanks all for the replies. We're in Portugal where unfortunately there are no state vets, and where people think the idea of having a vet look at a chicken is crazy…

What exactly had you been feeding her?

All our chickens are mostly fed layers' rations. They don't like them, so in the afternoon we also give them some mixed grain and some veggies. Usually cabbage leaves, but also sometimes some chopped courgette or other vegetables. We also give them some extra calcium.

We can't let them free range because we've had guineafowl killed by foxes and an eagle, so they have a caged area. But insects can get in which they could eat, and I've seen them fighting over a slow-worm in the past. Mice and small birds could also get in which might transmit diseases. We haven't seen a bird in there for several weeks though.

Sometimes if we do those at home, opening the abdomen and having a look at the major organs can help with a possible diagnosis. Pictures of those organs can be posted here. If you want to do that here is a video with the organs listed:

Thanks for the video. We'll watch it and have a go at doing an autopsy. I'll come back and share what we find.

 

[aptenodytes]

Well, we did the necropsy, but I'm not sure that we identified a cause of death.
She did have intestinal worms of some kind, and possibly some haemorrhaging – see below.

A lot of very gory photos follow...

Bernadette about two hours before her death...


...and immediately after (I moved her away from the drool).


The necropsy was performed about 6 hours after death.

The flesh/muscle on one side of the sternum was dark red. Could this be due to haemorrhaging for some reason? What could have caused it?



The two sides for comparison:



The crop, and the trachea:



Inside the chest cavity before moving anything. Liver and heart visible.



Worms visible through the wall of to the ceca:


The trachea seems to be crushed just above the place where it divides to ever the lungs – but I suspect I did this while dissecting her, as she was not showing any signs of breathing difficulty before she died.



The gizzard:



What are the little things, smaller than a grain of rice, attached to the outer wall of the intestine in various places? Some were yellowish or white; one was liver coloured. They were attached at one end by a sort of membrane.



Part of the small intestine:




The entire digestive tract removed from the bird:



Is this enlarged part of the small intestine normal?



Ovary?



I cut open the entire digestive tract along its full length. Here are photos of some parts:

The crop contained the meal which she ate the previous afternoon: courgette, wheat kernels, and a little bit of hard boiled egg.



The emptied crop. It was not obstructed in any way and the food was undigested and not rotting.



The gizzard contained similar food but slightly more digested:



The emptied gizzard. It was also not obstruted in any way:



Cutting down the length of the small intestine I found several long worms (up to at least 4cm in length, and several smaller ones). They were exclusively in the parts of the intestine which contained food. In total I removed 9 worms but there may have been more. They were alive and wriggling (slightly).



The ceca contained a number of "turds" and a lot more, smaller (different?) worms, as visible through the walls in an earlier photo.

The ceca before opening:



Worms in the feces in a cecum:



Cutting into the liver (I didn't notice any anomalies):



The heart appeared to be empty of blood. Could it all have drained into the assumed haemorrhage in the breast tissue in the earlier photo?



Can anyone identify a cause of death from the above?

We have a lot more photos, but they're all rather gory. If there's any specific body part anyone wants to see we can look for a photo.

 

[aptenodytes]

As a follow-up to the above:

I presume the worms are not likely to have been a cause of death, but clearly we need to deworm our flock. What treatment do you guys recommend?

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

Great job on the dissection!

When my flock had roundworms I used Fenbendazole, sold under the brand name Safe-Guard in the US.

I think the discoloration on the breast could be due to the blood pooling as she laid on that side after death. I have no opinions on the cause of death, your dissection has ruled out a lot of the causes I have seen in my own flock.

 

[aptenodytes]

I think the discoloration on the breast could be due to the blood pooling as she laid on that side after death. I have no opinions on the cause of death, your dissection has ruled out a lot of the causes I have seen in my own flock.

Interesting, that could be the case. That is the side she was lying on for the few hours between death and dissection.

 

[LaFleche]

Her liver is enlarged and of a lighter colour than normal which hints to some kind of infection going on.