Chickens stop laying and die

[jimandcyndi]

We have a Rhode Island Red that stopped laying a few days ago and looks as though she has gained a bunch of weight overnight. We just lost a Barred Rock last week that showed the same symptoms. She quit laying for about a month and a half, gained a bunch of weight and just fell over dead in the coop one day. After we started looking back, we had a Black Silkie that did the same thing. We thought she had stressed herself out trying to steal and hatch all the other chickens eggs, but we kept taking them from her. She quit laying. She was always very fluffy, so we never noticed any weight gain, but she just fell over dead one day. I am looking online for reasons this may be happening, but am not finding answers. I'm hoping someone can help me please!

 

[Kayschix]

Hi, you said the chicken started to gain weight? Was it in the back half underneath her like her belly? Was it soft, squishy like? She may have had peritinitos. I had a leghorn that happend to. I had to drain her belly every day for 9 months. She died after the 9 months. I think she couldn't take any more... I don't know if this is what happend to your girl, but I thought I would throw this out there.

 

[mithious]

We have a Rhode Island Red that stopped laying a few days ago and looks as though she has gained a bunch of weight overnight. We just lost a Barred Rock last week that showed the same symptoms. She quit laying for about a month and a half, gained a bunch of weight and just fell over dead in the coop one day. After we started looking back, we had a Black Silkie that did the same thing. We thought she had stressed herself out trying to steal and hatch all the other chickens eggs, but we kept taking them from her. She quit laying. She was always very fluffy, so we never noticed any weight gain, but she just fell over dead one day. I am looking online for reasons this may be happening, but am not finding answers. I'm hoping someone can help me please!

The more specific you can be, about ANY symptoms you have seen, the better people can help, getting fat then dying is just not enough info, so sorry, that has to be hard, 3 dead chickens and not knowing..are there any other things you can think of that you noticed? Anything, even if you think it's insignificant, can sometimes help!!!!

So sorry for your losses!!!!

How old are they? Did you raise them from chicks or get them older? How many chickens do you have? Just some ideas of what kinds of info would help, plus symptoms of any kind....

 

[jimandcyndi]

It's weight all over, like she is getting really fluffy really fast. I will check out peritinitos to see if she has those symptoms. Thanks.

 

[jimandcyndi]

We haven't noticed ANYTHING different, that's what is so frustrating. They seem perfectly fine, quit laying, don't seem to be eating any more than usual but still start gaining weight, then just die. We haven't changed anything, they have the same food as we have fed them since we got them. We have a silkie hen, a silkie rooster, a rhode island red, and two ameraucanas. The silkies are 2 years old and the other 3 are about a year old. We got them when they were between 4 months and a year old. We had a buff that we lost to mites in November, a couple of months after we first got our chickens and didn't have a clue what we were doing. A couple others had mites, but we were able to save them.

EDIT: My husband has noticed that lately when he is watering them, any water that spills out on the floor with the pine shavings they are drinking up really fast before drinking any of the water out of their waterer. I attribute that to the heat we have been having for the last couple of weeks, but I don't know. Their coop and yard are clean, we clean their shavings out every week.

 

[gailm]

Very good chance they didn't 'stop' laying, but stopped laying 'externally' and began laying 'internally', into the abdominal cavity (especially if they appear to be gaining weight). I had 2 girls that this happened too. The first one i took in for surgery and she had about 30 hard boiled eggs inside her. Supposedly made it through the surgery and died in recovery. The 2nd girl i noticed the signs sooner. Had her in for surgery as well. Unfortunately even after putting her on Lupron injections she continued to lay internally.

 

[jimandcyndi]

We actually wondered if that could be happening, producing eggs but not laying them. We will definitely have her checked for that. Thank you so much!

 

[Autumn D]

there probaly egg bound like gailm said, they will need surgery if they cannot get the eggs out themselves.

 

[MelissaTXRn]

What would cause them to do that? I mean, more than one in the same flock?

 

[jimandcyndi]

Yes! I have the same questions as CrazyCrable, why would more than one of my chickens have that happen, why does it happen, and is there any way to prevent it?