Help - Brahma breeding team hens dying

[Jingles000]

Hi,

Can anyone help me please?


I purchased a gold partridge Brahma breeding group around a month ago. There was 1 rooster and 5 hens. The rooster is around 1yo and the hens are 18 months.

Around 2 weeks ago I was putting them away in the coop and found the first hen dead in the coop (next to but not in the nesting boxes). I thought it must be the heat as it’s been very hot and opened the pen into our yard with heaps of shade and started using ice bricks in the water.

Today, exact same thing has happened. Another hen dead in the coop in nearly the exact same spot. This one had fluid coming from its beak.

All looked fine this morning when I let them out.

There is a pen of silkies on one side and layers on the other and they have been fine.


Please help me work out what’s going on before I lose the entire breeding group.

Thanks

 

[LaurenRitz]

What color is the comb, does the abdomen feel squishy, how does the crop feel? If the comb is off-color (particularly purple) you may be dealing with something circulatory.

Squishy, water filled abdomen may be liver related. If you do a necropsy, look for problems with the organs. Also, is the water coming from the crop, or the lungs?

 

[Rose the Legbar]

If you can, I HIGHLY suggest moving your brahmas far away from all of your other flocks for the time being. Just in case it is an illness of some sort that can spread.

If you aren’t able to do a necropsy on the dead one yourself, you can send it in to your state lab and they can run tests for all sorts of things. If you go that route, put the body into a trash bag (you can double bag it if you want), then place the body into a fridge (do not put it into the freezer).

 

[Eggcessive]

Are you in America or in the southern hemisphere? How old were the brahmas? Have you ever had a disease in your flock before that the new birds could have been exposed to? Can you examine the crops of the chickens early in the morning before eating or drinking, to make sure they are emptying overnight, and to make sure there are no crop impactions, or sour crop? What color was the fluid from the crop? Do you have granite poultry grit available? It is not uncommon for the crop to empty after death. Check your feed for any color change, odor, or evidence of mold in the container? Most state vets will do a necropsy on chickens,,but if you are not in the US, you may need to do one yourself, to open the abdomen and crop, to look at the intestines, liver and other organs. Sorry for your loss, and I hope we can help you figure this out.