Found one of my hens dead today. Warning Vent Photo

[Abriana]

I’m really sorry about your loss Rest In Peace

 

[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]

I’m really sorry about your loss Rest In Peace

Thank you

 

[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]

I'm sorry for your lossi hope you get some answers from the necropcy. I totally agree my chickens are way different from goldfish to me. I would be devastated for any of them to pass. I would want answers too. Best of luck to you <3

Thank you so much for all you said. I hope so too.

 

[flwrldy]

Necropsy Results.
(Has anyone heard of a hen dying from this?)

Post-mortem Examination
The necropsy was performed by Dr. Brian Stevens on January 11, 2018 at 8:00 am.
EXTERNAL FINDINGS:
The female chicken weighs 2.513 kg and is in good body condition with normal muscle mass, excess fat reserves, and normal hydration. Thereisayellowbandontheleftleg.
INTERNAL FINDINGS:
The liver is diffusely friable and pale tan. The left liver lobe is mottled red and tan over the surface and on cut section, there is scattered hemorrhage affecting approximately 40% of the left liver lobe. There is a large free-floating blood clot loosely adhered to the left liver lobe, which contains approximately 100 mL of frank blood.
DIAGNOSIS:
Liver: Diffuse hepatic lipidosis with parenchymal hemorrhage throughout the left liver lobe Coelom: Hemocoelom
COMMENTS ON POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION :
The only significant finding on post-mortem examination of this bird is the severely friable and pale liver with multiple regions of hemorrhage and subsequent coelomic hemorrhage. The amount of blood exuding from this site in combination with the amount of hemorrhagethroughoutthehepaticparenchymawouldhavebeensufficienttohavecausedthesuddendeath. Thepresenceof this hemorrhage as well as the appearance of the underlying hepatic tissue is consistent with the syndrome termed 'fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome'. The exact underlying cause appears to be multifactorial and likely involves a combination of nutritional, genetic, environmental, and hormonal factors. Chickens affected by this condition are typically in good to obese body condition suggesting that diet may play a role in this disease process. This is a chronic process that typically occurs over multiple months and would not be related to any recent changes in feeding practices. Histopathology of all tissue is pending to rule out any other underlying disease condition, which may have contributed to hepatic rupture in this case.
Reference : Trott KA et al. Fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome in the backyard chicken: a retrospective histopathologic case series. Vet Pathol 51(4):787-795, 2014.

 

[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!