Dead hen, wormed and treated for lice yesterday

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rusty acres

rusty acres

Songster
5 Years
Aug 22, 2017
93
86
146
Mead, WA
I got home from work today and let the girls out to free range until bedtime. They all rushed out as usual to start scratching and foraging. Then when I opened up the coop door to clean the poop board and gather eggs, I was shocked to find one of my Bielefelders dead on the poop board. It happened sometime overnight or in the early morning, because the other birds had pooped on her.:hitShe didn't have any external wounds. She was fine yesterday afternoon and evening when I put them up for the night. She laid an egg yesterday. All the other girls are acting normal today, all the poop I scooped looked normal. I treated them all yesterday with Valbazen as a follow up to Wazine 10 days ago. I gave each bird 0.5 ml (or less depending on how much they fought) and she is one of my bigger girls, so definitely didn't overdose her. I saw round worms in poop, but I live in rural Central Florida where it's always warm and humid, with lots of wildlife, so I figured they had more than just one kind. It was also time for the 10 day lice follow up treatment, so they all got dusted with some Dust On powder (approved for poultry and I've used it before on all of them without problems). I then cleaned out the roost and nesting boxes, creating lots of dust which I tried hard to keep away from my girls, then put down fresh pine shavings and sprinkled with more Dust On powder. I tried to call the vet to ask if they could do a necropsy, but they were already closed. I wasn't sure how "fresh" she would need to be for it or that they would even do it, so my daughter and I had a little funeral and I buried her. Could she have reacted to the Valbazen? I can't think of any other reason that would cause an otherwise healthy bird to just drop dead suddenly overnight. She was so sweet and friendly. I am crushed. :hit
 
Hi. I'm sorry you lost one of your girls so suddenly like that. If you have buried her we will never know the actual cause but one thing that can cause death like that, particularly in larger birds, is Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome. The ailment can be caused by a number of factors but a primary one is a dietary imbalance, so it might be relevant to ask what you feed your flock? Some people have found that mixed grain feeds where birds are able to select particular components out of their feed and reject others may cause this.... it is apparently also a common problem in pet caged birds that get a seed mix. Usually birds will select the higher carbohydrate components of a mix over the protein rich pulses and the fines with essential minerals are left in the feeder or spilled and spoilt. If you feed a pellet or crumble, there is no opportunity for birds to pick and choose, as they are all the same. That said, people then sometimes feed additional items like scratch or corn or bread/pasta etc and unless these are kept to a minimum, they can also cause problems. If this is the case and she was perhaps carrying too much fat, the stress of being handled to be wormed and dusted might have caused the liver, which becomes weak due to the increased levels of fat deposited in it, to haemorrhage and result in death afterwards.....
This is just one of many possibilities but worth considering and checking that your flock's diet hasn't descended into unhealthy habits...... we all love to treat our chickens and it is all too easy for that to get out of hand over time without really realising it, so not intending to be critical in any way.
 
rebrascora said:
Hi. I'm sorry you lost one of your girls so suddenly like that. If you have buried her we will never know the actual cause but one thing that can cause death like that, particularly in larger birds, is Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome. The ailment can be caused by a number of factors but a primary one is a dietary imbalance, so it might be relevant to ask what you feed your flock? Some people have found that mixed grain feeds where birds are able to select particular components out of their feed and reject others may cause this.... it is apparently also a common problem in pet caged birds that get a seed mix. Usually birds will select the higher carbohydrate components of a mix over the protein rich pulses and the fines with essential minerals are left in the feeder or spilled and spoilt. If you feed a pellet or crumble, there is no opportunity for birds to pick and choose, as they are all the same. That said, people then sometimes feed additional items like scratch or corn or bread/pasta etc and unless these are kept to a minimum, they can also cause problems. If this is the case and she was perhaps carrying too much fat, the stress of being handled to be wormed and dusted might have caused the liver, which becomes weak due to the increased levels of fat deposited in it, to haemorrhage and result in death afterwards.....
This is just one of many possibilities but worth considering and checking that your flock's diet hasn't descended into unhealthy habits...... we all love to treat our chickens and it is all too easy for that to get out of hand over time without really realising it, so not intending to be critical in any way.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply, and very relevant questions! They get a layer pellet feed and free range everyday, anywhere from a couple hours to all day. About once a week, they get something special like fresh cut squash or yogurt. I used to feed treats everyday- scratch, dried worms, dried veggie mix, omega supplement crumbles- but after reading on here that too many treats can cause organ damage, overweight birds, nutritional deficits, I cut all that out a couple months ago. I'm only doing a few fistfuls of the omega supplement daily between all the birds. But for a good while, they got the treats every day, so there was probably damage already done.

It's too late for her, but I will investigate where and how I can get a necropsy done, in case any other birds succumb mysteriously.
 
I'm so sorry, I know how you feel, my lucy died a couple days ago. She was fine, so healthy looking. She just sat down and died. Ive been watching what I give them more carefully the last couple of days. Her main food was Bar Ale crumbles with Omega 3. But we also give them a treat of birdseed a couple times a day, and veggies once in awhile. They free range all day so they get a lot of bugs and worms. I'm new at raising chickens. I had 3 I got last may, now 2, Lizzie and ethel. I feel so paranoid about lizzie and ethel now, but I found this site and I'm learning so much from all the nice members. Good luck to you.
 

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