Found one of my hens dead today. Warning Vent Photo

[Stayc]

I'm sorry for your loss. It cost me $198 to have a Polish Rooster euthanized and a necropsy done. Just yesterday. Waiting results.
It's a heartbreaker when our animas get sick or die. Ugh

Sorry for your loss

 

[flwrldy]

Hoping for the best results possible, and none of your other hens will be affected! Hugs!

Thank you so much! So far so good, Thank God, with the other birds.

 

[flwrldy]

Don’t beat yourself up too much. It looks like she was well loved.

Thank you.

 

[flwrldy]

I’m really sorry about your loss Rest In Peace

Thank you

 

[rebrascora]

Unfortunately, yes! Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome is rather too common, particularly in this day and age when chickens are kept more as pets, fed a diet too high in carbohydrates (scratch/bread/pasta/rice) and kept in a restricted area where they are not burning off those calories in exercise looking for their food (ie free ranging).... much like modern day people becoming obese and diabetic because of lack of exercise and too much carbohydrates. Larger more docile breeds are probably more prone to it as they are naturally less active, which is why genetics play a part. Of course it is very difficult to assess body condition in a hen because those feathers hide such a lot.
I processed a neighbour's hens for him a couple of years ago because they were not laying and they were suffering from this problem, but had not had a fatal haemorrhage. They were all large docile birds.... Light Sussex and Langshans, kept in a pen and fed maybe 1/3 scratch to 2/3 layer feed over their lifetime together with fatty off cuts off meat etc. I have some photos of them cut open which show the huge amount of yellow fatty deposits both under their skin and also surrounding their organs. It is not surprising that they were not laying eggs as their bodies were no longer healthy and efficient.

The lesson for you from this is to cut out the scratch grains and any other carbohydrate treats from your flock's diet. Treat with occasional meal worms if you want to treat them, but make their diet predominantly or entirely a formulated poultry feed. Encourage them to get exercise by giving them plenty of things to dig through or free range when it is safe to do so.
Many people think that allowing them poultry food ad lib must cause this but poultry food (layer pellets/flock raiser etc) are formulated to provide the right balance of nutrients to satisfy a hens appetite and provide what they need to stay healthy and lay eggs. They will not generally over eat it but if scratch or other carbohydrates are offered, they will eat those in preference, just like children eat sweets in the absence of parental discipline.

Please don't feel bad about this but do learn from it and hopefully others reading this will also learn from it, thanks to you posting the information. We have all made mistakes in our chicken keeping experience but we are not born with total knowledge and the only way we gain it is by experience which is often sad.

This is one of the reasons why I now do informal necropsies on any of my own chickens that die. It really helps me to understand what is going on and how I might improve my poultry management.

I can post some photos if you would like to see the yellow fatty deposits I found in my neighbours chickens.... they are graphic. It made me think twice about my own diet which is also far too high in carbohydrates!

 

[rebrascora]

I just read on your other thread about your response to the issue of diet and that until recently you have not fed them scratch.
From the information you posted there it appears that your proprietary feed is a large particle mash type feed where it is possible for the birds to selectively pick out and eat individual components of the feed (it is an organic feed that contains large pieces of corn, wheat and sunflower seed to name but a few), rather than a micronized pelleted feed or crumble where everything is uniform and the bird gets the full balanced nutrition from each particle. I have seen my chickens pecking an tiny specks that I cannot make out whilst scratching in the dirt, so it seems to me totally logical that by using this feed, the chickens can easily pick out their favourite bits of it like corn and wheat and not it the more nutritious components or leave them for the lower pecking order birds (or even rats) to clean up. This sort of feed also encourages them to bill out and waste much more than with a homogenous/pelleted feed, in order to find their favourite bits and I would recommend people do not use it or grind it up in a coffee grinder until it is powdered and make a mash with it.

I ferment some of my pelleted feed for my hens and sometimes I have thrown a handful of scratch into the mash and mixed it in and then watched as my hens raked through the fermented feed looking for the scratch when they realised there were bits in it. Normally they just wolf it down but if they think there are "goodies" in there, they get their feet in the pan and start scratching in it looking for the best bits. They are not stupid! This is no different to your children eating their favourite bits on their dinner plate and leaving the veg they don't like even though they are good for them.

 

[orrpeople]

You will be receiving another report once they get the histopathology completed. It will show if there was a disease present that exacerbated the liver issue. If it were me, I wouldn't change anything unti the final results are in.

 

[flwrldy]

I just read on your other thread about your response to the issue of diet and that until recently you have not fed them scratch.
From the information you posted there it appears that your proprietary feed is a large particle mash type feed where it is possible for the birds to selectively pick out and eat individual components of the feed (it is an organic feed that contains large pieces of corn, wheat and sunflower seed to name but a few), rather than a micronized pelleted feed or crumble where everything is uniform and the bird gets the full balanced nutrition from each particle. I have seen my chickens pecking an tiny specks that I cannot make out whilst scratching in the dirt, so it seems to me totally logical that by using this feed, the chickens can easily pick out their favourite bits of it like corn and wheat and not it the more nutritious components or leave them for the lower pecking order birds (or even rats) to clean up. This sort of feed also encourages them to bill out and waste much more than with a homogenous/pelleted feed, in order to find their favourite bits and I would recommend people do not use it or grind it up in a coffee grinder until it is powdered and make a mash with it.

I ferment some of my pelleted feed for my hens and sometimes I have thrown a handful of scratch into the mash and mixed it in and then watched as my hens raked through the fermented feed looking for the scratch when they realised there were bits in it. Normally they just wolf it down but if they think there are "goodies" in there, they get their feet in the pan and start scratching in it looking for the best bits. They are not stupid! This is no different to your children eating their favourite bits on their dinner plate and leaving the veg they don't like even though they are good for them.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond with some great information. My problem is that this is the only organic soy free feed I have found. I’m allergic to soy. I don’t know if any of the other birds are doing this as well but yes it makes total sense that she could’ve been picking just the corn out. Your a doll! Thank you again!

 

[flwrldy]

You will be receiving another report once they get the histopathology completed. It will show if there was a disease present that exacerbated the liver issue. If it were me, I wouldn't change anything unti the final results are in.

Yeah they said in 10 days I would get the complete report and the fecal test report as well.

 

[rebrascora]

How about soaking or fermenting the grains and then blitzing them in a blender. They should homogenise a lot easier when they have been soaked in water for a couple of days. It's still going to be a significant task for 20 hens though!

I'm in the UK so I couldn't advise you on other products. We are probably more limited for choice here so I would be surprised if we have any soy free poultry feed. Is it because you are handling it that you need it to be soy free or because you are concerned about eating the eggs from chickens that have been fed soy in case it makes you sick..... I think the latter is very unlikely but not an expert on allergies by any means. Perhaps a mask and protective clothing whilst you are handling the feed would help protect you from contact with soy if you tried a different feed that included it.