End of Life Behaviors

[flock mommasan]

I recently had my #1 chicken, MammaSan, die. She was almost 6 years old -- a Black Sex Link -- and a very prolific egg layer. A week or two prior to finding her dead I noticed she was moving more slowly and she started seeming "spacey" when I'd return the chickens back into the coup after being outside for a while. Being spacey means she did not seem interested in the afternoon treats (a little corn scratch and meal worms) and indeed even if I threw them right at her feet she just looked around like "why is everyone moving around so quickly?" A couple of days later she passed.

Now our #2 chicken, Rockette, is showing similar behavior. She hasn't eaten treats in the past two days, and is acting just like MammaSan. My husband tells me today when he let the chickens out for their daily foraging, she never left the coop. Rockette and MammaSan were from my first cohort of chickens (3 remain, plus I have 5 other chickens of various ages) so I don't know if this is normal end-of-life behavior or possibly something else I need to be concerned about.

Thoughts?

 

[chicknmania]

I don't think it's end of life behavior and chickens can live a lot longer than 6 years old.

Have you dewormed your flock? Was your hen that died of normal weight or did she seem underweight. Your hen that is sick now does she exhibit any other symptoms (like respiratory symptoms or unusual droppings) besides those you described? Did you check your flock for lice or mites?

For starters, you should put your sick hen in a hospital cage or pen so that she is separated from the main flock, has some privacy and warmth. Most vets will do a fecal float for you if you can collect one, and that is where I would start if I were you. You should act quickly because when they show symptoms such as you describe, they are already pretty ill.

 

[flock mommasan]

I don't think it's end of life behavior and chickens can live a lot longer than 6 years old.

Have you dewormed your flock? Was your hen that died of normal weight or did she seem underweight. Your hen that is sick now does she exhibit any other symptoms (like respiratory symptoms or unusual droppings) besides those you described? Did you check your flock for lice or mites?

For starters, you should put your sick hen in a hospital cage or pen so that she is separated from the main flock, has some privacy and warmth. Most vets will do a fecal float for you if you can collect one, and that is where I would start if I were you. You should act quickly because when they show symptoms such as you describe, they are already pretty ill.

No, I've not dewormed my flock. I will check into that. The hen that died was of normal weight -- she looked healthy, although I noticed her crop was not standing up as straight as normal in the last couple of days. No other symptoms (respiratory or unusual droppings). Other than the symptoms I described, everyone seems healthy and happy.

Btw, my husband said he went to the coop later this afternoon and Rockette was back to her usual self when he threw in a bit of scratch to see what she'd do. I'll just have to keep an eye on her and see about separating her.

Thanks for the response.

 

[chicknmania]

No, I've not dewormed my flock. I will check into that. The hen that died was of normal weight -- she looked healthy, although I noticed her crop was not standing up as straight as normal in the last couple of days. No other symptoms (respiratory or unusual droppings). Other than the symptoms I described, everyone seems healthy and happy.

Btw, my husband said he went to the coop later this afternoon and Rockette was back to her usual self when he threw in a bit of scratch to see what she'd do. I'll just have to keep an eye on her and see about separating her.

Thanks for the response.

It does sound like worms to me. They can have Capillary worms which you can't see, and sometimes there's no weight loss or unusual droppings or anything to give you any clues. If you can't get a fecal float done, I'd go ahead and deworm the whole flock anyway. You need a broad spectrum dewormer like Safeguard, Valbazen, Levasol. And yes, use commercial dewormers, not natural remedies. Capillary worms are hard to kill but they WILL kill your birds if you don't take the proper measures. It will not hurt your birds, although there is a withdrawal period for egg and meat consumption, varies depending on what you use. For your sick bird, make sure she keeps eating and drinking. You can tempt her with moist crumbles, or anything she likes...bread soaked in buttermilk, scrambled eggs, chopped green grapes, canned catfood, whatever works. There are different recommendations for deworming, depending on what you use. If you need help figuring it out, just say so and I can give help with that or someone on here will. Don't waste any time, really. Even if the birds act OK, they're good at concealing symptoms of illness.

 

[flock mommasan]

I was out of town until last night and I just now verified Rockette has worms -- actually saw them as she had her back to the open nesting box and I saw them near her vent. I'll look at the other chickens but am going to assume everyone has them! Everything is closed today but I will go tomorrow to find a dewormer.

So, will we need to thoroughly clean to coop as well as treating the birds?

We are going to be out of town starting Tuesday for a few days so whatever I need to get started on has to happen tomorrow and hopefully it's something our house sitter can follow through on.

Advice is welcome!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I just now verified Rockette has worms -- actually saw them as she had her back to the open nesting box and I saw them near her vent.

Please go out and gather up your hen. Inspect her and those worms more closely. Seeing worms near her vent sounds like Maggots (FlyStrike) instead of intestinal worms.

Take some photos.

If they are Maggots, then you will want to wash those all off, pick them off, etc. they can do a lot of damage and kill a hen.

Hoping I'm reading your description incorrectly.

https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

 

[flock mommasan]

Please go out and gather up your hen. Inspect her and those worms more closely. Seeing worms near her vent sounds like Maggots (FlyStrike) instead of intestinal worms.

Take some photos.

If they are Maggots, then you will want to wash those all off, pick them off, etc. they can do a lot of damage and kill a hen.

Hoping I'm reading your description incorrectly.

https://the-chicken-chick.com/flystrike-in-backyard-chickens-causes/

I inspected them more closely earlier and determined from looking at pictures that they were maggots. Tons of them. Spent the afternoon irrigating the wound and picking them out one by one. We think we got them all but the wound, while as clean as we can get it, is quite deep. She is separated from the others. I have nothing to put on the wound so have put her in a large dog cage with newspaper, water and a little food. I've never seen anything like this! If she makes it through the night I will recheck her in the morning, get something to clean the wound and to cover it.

I inspected the other chickens and saw no others with maggots. Although one had an egg-sized red pouch outsider her vent that was full of feces. We irrigated that, it easily softened and emptied, but pouch won't go back in fully. Not sure what else to do there. Chicken is eating normally.

I honestly thought I would gag at having to deal with the wound/maggots, but wanting to help my poor Rockette helped me find some untapped reservoir of strength.

Six years of chicken-tending and this has been the worst day!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I inspected them more closely earlier and determined from looking at pictures that they were maggots. Tons of them. Spent the afternoon irrigating the wound and picking them out one by one. We think we got them all but the wound, while as clean as we can get it, is quite deep. She is separated from the others. I have nothing to put on the wound so have put her in a large dog cage with newspaper, water and a little food. I've never seen anything like this! If she makes it through the night I will recheck her in the morning, get something to clean the wound and to cover it.

I inspected the other chickens and saw no others with maggots. Although one had an egg-sized red pouch outsider her vent that was full of feces. We irrigated that, it easily softened and emptied, but pouch won't go back in fully. Not sure what else to do there. Chicken is eating normally.

I honestly thought I would gag at having to deal with the wound/maggots, but wanting to help my poor Rockette helped me find some untapped reservoir of strength.

Six years of chicken-tending and this has been the worst day!

I'm glad you took a closer look.

You don't have anything to put on the wound at all? Triple antibiotic ointment, vaseline, honey, sugar pack...any of these can be applied.
Salt water can be used to irrigate the wound if you need to do that. Ideally boiled salt water, but with a lot of flushing, warm water with a little salt dissolved in it will work, just rinse with clean (non salted) water when done.
You will want to look at the wound again tomorrow, likely there will be more maggots unfortunately. How deep is the wound, did it breech the abdominal cavity?

Tell more about the other hen having an egg sized red pouch outside of her vent? Does she have a prolapse? Is it tissue hanging from her vent?

If you can, please post some photos of the wounds and of the other hen as well.

You did good getting the maggots off

 

[flock mommasan]

I'm glad you took a closer look.

You don't have anything to put on the wound at all? Triple antibiotic ointment, vaseline, honey, sugar pack...any of these can be applied.
Salt water can be used to irrigate the wound if you need to do that. Ideally boiled salt water, but with a lot of flushing, warm water with a little salt dissolved in it will work, just rinse with clean (non salted) water when done.
You will want to look at the wound again tomorrow, likely there will be more maggots unfortunately. How deep is the wound, did it breech the abdominal cavity?

Tell more about the other hen having an egg sized red pouch outside of her vent? Does she have a prolapse? Is it tissue hanging from her vent?

If you can, please post some photos of the wounds and of the other hen as well.

You did good getting the maggots off

Thank you!

We do have vaseline and will apply that tomorrow. No, I don't think the wound has breeched the abdominal cavity, but then again, I don't know exactly what I'm looking at. It's about the size of a quarter and another smaller one, a bit smaller than a dime. But both have edges that you can reach under -- that's where we found more maggots. We irrigated it over and over -- pulling out the maggots as we saw them.

Re the other hen, Pearl: yes, I think it's a prolapse. We cleaned it and my husband pushed it back in about an inch and a half but it came back out again. Not sure what else to do.

Very stressful! I'll see if I can get pictures in the light tomorrow.

Thank you again for your help!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you!

We do have vaseline and will apply that tomorrow. No, I don't think the wound has breeched the abdominal cavity, but then again, I don't know exactly what I'm looking at. It's about the size of a quarter and another smaller one, a bit smaller than a dime. But both have edges that you can reach under -- that's where we found more maggots. We irrigated it over and over -- pulling out the maggots as we saw them.

Re the other hen, Pearl: yes, I think it's a prolapse. We cleaned it and my husband pushed it back in about an inch and a half but it came back out again. Not sure what else to do.

Very stressful! I'll see if I can get pictures in the light tomorrow.

Thank you again for your help!

Flush the wounds again this morning to see if more maggots emerge. If vaseline is all you have, then I would apply a thin layer into the wound to help protect it.

If your other hen has prolapsed and the tissue won't stay in, then you will want to keep the moist with ointment/oil too. The vaseline will work there too, if that's all you have. Your goal there is for the tissue not to dry out and become necrotic.

Get Calcium into the prolapsed hen, this help with retention of the tissue. She may also have another egg on the way, so hopefully this will help. Look for Calcium Citrate (Caltrate or Store Brand), give her 1 tablet daily for several days.

I'm sorry that all this is coming at one time. Do the best you can.

What do you feed your hens, including treats?
Are all of the hens the same age?