Gravel crop?

[Justin0248]

I had a chicken die on me this morning, last night I found her laying alone in a nesting box so I isolated her and have her food and water. When I felt for her crop I didn't feel anything but after she died today I cut her open and looked inside her gizzard and found a really gravelly mixture, Nothing else seemed to be wrong though. Any ideas or advice in case it happens again?

 

[FrostRanger]

Chickens eat gravel to digest their food so I don't think that was related to her death. Could she have been egg bound? Was she walking around with a penguin stance? What symptoms was she displaying ?

 

[Justin0248]

Chickens eat gravel to digest their food so I don't think that was related to her death. Could she have been egg bound? Was she walking around with a penguin stance? What symptoms was she displaying ?

What I was saying is there's too much gravel. I've opened up chicken gizzards before, they're not normal this full of gravel. I checked for an egg, she was not egg bound, but that's all I know. When I found her she was already in bad shape so that's pretty much all I know

 

[aart]

Do you provide grit or do they find it on their own?

I slaughtered a hen once and her gizzard was packed with grit.
That's when I stopped providing a feeder for grit and just sprinkled some around the run once in a while.

Some birds will gorge on stuff, who knows why,
maybe some neurological issue?<shrugs>

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Did you happen to take any pictures of her organs during the necropsy. There have been a few threads on here before about chickens who have had crops and gizzards full of grit. Occasionally someone will post an xray of that. I had a hen once who had been eating lichen and dried twigs despite having quality chicken feed, grit, and scrambled egg everyday.

 

[Justin0248]

Sorry for your loss. Did you happen to take any pictures of her organs during the necropsy. There have been a few threads on here before about chickens who have had crops and gizzards full of grit. Occasionally someone will post an xray of that. I had a hen once who had been eating lichen and dried twigs despite having quality chicken feed, grit, and scrambled egg everyday.

I didn't have any pictures no, I had too much blood and gut juice on me. But I do have quite a bit of knowledge on how it's supposed to look and all but the gizzard looked normal to me. Anything in particular you would have looked for?

 

[Justin0248]

Do you provide grit or do they find it on their own?

I slaughtered a hen once and her gizzard was packed with grit.
That's when I stopped providing a feeder for grit and just sprinkled some around the run once in a while.

Some birds will gorge on stuff, who knows why,
maybe some neurological issue?<shrugs>

I did have grit provided. I will have to keep that idea in mind, thank you