Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Disease

[NewAtThis8]

Hey all, I inherited a pretty big lady from a friend. She was being picked on and we successfully introduced her to our flock where she’s still pretty reserved / lowest on the pecking order, but is no longer bullied. She’s an olive egger, and bigger or comparable in size to my barred rock hen, who is also a big girl. That being said, she doesn’t lay- we thought it was due to the stress of being bullied but we’ve had her several months now and she’s still not laying. Sometimes she sits in a box like she is, gets up and sings the egg song, and moves on like she laid but didn’t. We did learn she had some kind of trauma to her vent before we took her in, so I’m thinking that’s the reason. We aren’t ruling out internal laying but she seems in fine health. However, for her and for my other big girl, I do worry about fatty liver disease. They don’t free range due to the volume of aerial predators we have, but they do have a substantial run and do get supervised time in the yard. They are recovering from a feather eating tirade (resolved) and molting, so I’ve had them on the highest protein feed for about 3 months now- kalmbach full plume feed with 18% protein. Now that we’re on the other side of things and their feathers are coming back in, is this feed combined with their lower activity asking for trouble? I noticed that this particular chicken has a waxy yellow tinge to her skin, around her eyes and below her vent where her feathers were eaten and are growing back so I can see it. I know the disease doesn’t really present symptoms until it’s too late, but wondering if the yellow skin is abnormal or maybe normal for some breeds? Thanks for your insight!

 

[nuthatched]

Normal for hens nor currently laying

 

[Susan Skylark]

High protein isn’t associated with fatty liver, excess calories (fat and carbs) is. Yellowing if the skin, gums, and whites of the eyes (jaundice or icterus) is associated with a wide variety of liver issues but a slight yellow tinge to light or pink skin is not jaundice, more likely fat deposits. Poultry livers can also be yellow or orange in color in normal healthy birds. Fatty liver is most common in pregnancy, diabetes, or situations where a well fed or obese critter suddenly has extreme energy demands placed on the system (birth and lactation in dairy cows). Your hen may not lay due to seasonal issues or may be infertile/have repro issues, in which case a maintenance diet for laying hens will make her chubby (but likely won’t induce fatty liver) as all that energy everybody else is putting into eggs is put into fat, much like a working dog doesn’t put on weight even though it eats way more than a lazy couch dog. I wouldn’t worry about her producing eggs but not laying them, it would quickly become obvious (very sick and dead!). You just have a lazy couch chick instead of a working girl!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hey all, I inherited a pretty big lady from a friend. She was being picked on and we successfully introduced her to our flock where she’s still pretty reserved / lowest on the pecking order, but is no longer bullied. She’s an olive egger, and bigger or comparable in size to my barred rock hen, who is also a big girl. That being said, she doesn’t lay- we thought it was due to the stress of being bullied but we’ve had her several months now and she’s still not laying. Sometimes she sits in a box like she is, gets up and sings the egg song, and moves on like she laid but didn’t. We did learn she had some kind of trauma to her vent before we took her in, so I’m thinking that’s the reason. We aren’t ruling out internal laying but she seems in fine health. However, for her and for my other big girl, I do worry about fatty liver disease. They don’t free range due to the volume of aerial predators we have, but they do have a substantial run and do get supervised time in the yard. They are recovering from a feather eating tirade (resolved) and molting, so I’ve had them on the highest protein feed for about 3 months now- kalmbach full plume feed with 18% protein. Now that we’re on the other side of things and their feathers are coming back in, is this feed combined with their lower activity asking for trouble? I noticed that this particular chicken has a waxy yellow tinge to her skin, around her eyes and below her vent where her feathers were eaten and are growing back so I can see it. I know the disease doesn’t really present symptoms until it’s too late, but wondering if the yellow skin is abnormal or maybe normal for some breeds? Thanks for your insight!

Please post photos of what you are concerned about - the waxy skin, the hen, her eyes, etc.

Depending on breed, the skin may be yellow, white, black...
But, photos will help us out

Feed your hens a nutritionally balanced poultry feed and limit treats if they are not all that active. 18% protein feed is a good choice. I feed mine a 22% feed and have not had any issues.


Here's some reading about FLD in POULTRY.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/chickens-obesity-silent-killer-how-to/
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...tty-liver-hemorrhagic-syndrome-in-laying-hens
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...oultry#Etiology-and-Pathophysiology_v44232397