hello and help!

[campbell]

Hi everyone,
I have been visiting this site since I got my first chicks three years ago, but I'm finally joining and posting due to the sudden death of one of our original chickens. We have 3 barred rocks, 2 Easter eggers, and a Rhode Island Red that my kids and I raised from chicks. This morning I found my RI Red dead in the nest box. They had all been free ranging in the back yard yesterday, but I don't remember seeing her acting any differently than the others. When I examined her today I noticed some clear nasal discharge - respiratory disease? She was one of my dominant chickens, and my best layer, although now that I think of it her laying seems to have been off lately. We also have some 7 week old chicks we have raised from day olds - could they have given her something?
Any advice would be appreciated. I'm worried about my other chickens!
Thanks!

 

[pipermark]

Were the day olds vaccinated for anything?

 

[trilyn]

Oh, I'm so sorry-hopefully someone with more knowledge will be on here soon!

 

[Imp]

campbell,

Sorry I'm not better with emergencies. There is a sticky at the top of the emergency section that asks a lot of questions to help us answer you. Sorry you lost one. If any others start showing any symptoms seperate, keep warm and post again.

hopefully someone with more experience will be able to answer you.

Imp

 

[b.hromada]

Don't worry, someone will be able to help you out on here.

from S. Florida.

 

[hen-thusiast]

I agree with Imp, check out the emergency section. In the meantime

from UT.

 

[campbell]

Thanks, everyone! I've been trying to call local vets (no response until too late to necropsy), but the best info I got was from the feed store owner where I bought my chickens. He said that the most common cause of sudden death in an otherwise healthy hen was from being egg bound, which could be, because I don't think she'd been laying the last couple of days. I had just got in from out of town and my husband had been watching the chickens, so we aren't sure (he can't tell the eggs apart).
Another thing that supposedly can happen is that a hen can get hit on the back, say from a dog attack, and since the internal organs are up against the spine they can be easily injured that way. My five year old may have grabbed her roughly on the back when trying to catch her, according to his siblings, which may or may not be the case, never know.
The third thing the feed store guy said was that if a hen is turned upside down, sometimes they can aspirate digestive contents which can cause respiratory failure.
The thing that worries me is that when I examined her body, she had a lot of clear liquid draining from her nostrils. She hadn't been dead for more than an hour or two. I wonder if it was a respiratory infection. She wasn't coughing or sneezing or showing any other obvious symptoms, but she did start laying funny eggs a few weeks ago, some with wrinkles and others with bumps or calcium deposits on one end. I read online that that can be a sign of infectious bronchitis. Has anyone else experienced this?
I am probably putting this in the wrong topic, but I appreciate everyones replies!

 

[pipermark]

Yes but you didn't answer my question, so let me try again, chicks are sometimes given live vaccinations, if they were put in proximity to an unvaccinated chicken. and they were stressed they will "shed" the virus. Thus causing an infectious environment.

The egg bound could be the answer except clear liquid from the orifices you described does not indicate a healthy chicken to me.

However, if there are no other unvaccinated birds in proximity to the suspect chicks, or if enough time has passed the problem had become a non problem.

Now hopefully I have answered it this time in such a manner that you will think "oh this might be a more educated person" and answer the post.

Have a nice day.

 

[Cats Critters]

 

[campbell]

Regarding vaccinations - sorry to take so long to respond! I don't know whether the chicks were vaccinated, but I suspect not, since I got them from the feed store and I doubt they do it. The new chicks came from the same hatchery as my 2 year olds. I still am concerned about the nasal discharge, but I haven't seen any sign of illness in my other chickens. I'm hoping this is an isolated incident, but if I lose another chicken or one gets sick I'm going to see about getting the state lab to do some test. Is it common for chicks to be vaccinated with live virus?