Eye swollen shut, feathers falling out and possible fever

[aart]

wyrop and Eggcessive

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

 

[jeepgrrl]

Thank you for the help and for the links.

At least if it happens again, i'll be able to diagnose it quicker and put the hen down with minimal suffering. Also i think i did overfeed my hens too. I have a new batch coming up and I am cutting out their treats. The one that died was the largest, she looked fat. the rest look pretty lean and muscular

But, I am learning that being nice to my hens is not necessarily healthy for them.

On a different subject, what do you think about the concept of having them help out composting.

They seem to want to scratch and dig all the time anyway. maybe this will keep them busy and help the overall appearance of my run.

The only thing i was concerned with is hygiene. compost piles can get pretty yucky. old food scraps can grow mold plus people clean their coops and throw the droppings into the same compost piles that their chickens are foraging.

https://abundantpermaculture.com/i-cut-my-chicken-feed-bill-100/

Thanks again, Mike

I’ve been reading your thread. I’m sorry for your losses. I lost a Welsummer to EYP, she was internally laying and eventually developed EYP. From my first flock, I lost an Austrolorp and a New Hampshire Red within a month of each other. One night I put the girls in their coop for the night and by morning the Austrolorp was dead. About a month later, the NHR was doing fine all day, we went out to eat dinner and when we returned home, she was weak and quivering and hiding next to the shed. I picked her up to bring her into the house and she had died in my arms before I reached the door. While I didn’t have a necropsy done on either hen, I suspect they died from acute liver failure. Because of my ignorance of a hen’s diet and wanting to spoil my girls, I totally over fed them treats, and I mean WAY overboard...scratch, mealworms, BOSS, chicken cranberry treats, cracked corn, one after the other, daily. I’m lucky I didn’t wipe out my entire flock. Treats are given in moderation now, no matter how loud they demand them, and only a few times a week vs a few times a day. It was a very hard lesson to learn, but I am grateful for BYC posters that alerted me to the error of my ways. Good luck with your flock, it’s always hard when we lose a hen, no matter if it’s from a predator, illness, or old age.

 

[Eggcessive]

Was there anything more to the necropsy on page 3? Thank you for posting the necropsy results, and sorry that she might have Had either Mareks disease or lymphoid leukosis. Both are viruses that can cause tumors. Many on BYC have flocks that are positive for one or the other of those diseases. If one is preferred over the other, I would chose lymphoid leukosis, but neither is very good to have.

If you should have another sick bird, I would either get a test for Mareks, done on blood serum, or get another necropsy with testing. This lab below does a blood serum PCR test for Mareks on live birds, and the swabs are sent to you to collect and send in for $20:
http://www.vetdna.com/application/forms/aviansubmittalform.pdf

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is some reading on Mareks disease:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

Here is an article about leukosis:
https://thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/avian-leukosis-lymphoid-leukosis-leukosis-sarkoma-group

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sorry to hear about them finding evidence of Marek's or LL.