Help.. I'm having a bad day after losing my first hen. : (

[sammi]

McMurrays has products that might help with anemia..
AviaCharge 2000, and other supplements such as kelp for protein.
chopped egg will help.

but you need to figure out why she might have had the anemia..

please describe the droppings..(color and consistency)
this can help diagnose the problem.

could she have been egg bound?
could she have had an impacted crop?
was she thin?
could she have had mites? (picking at feet)

best to treat your birds for mites/lice.
check the coop..it will also have to be cleaned and treated, and new bedding.

sorry for the loss of your hen, and hope the others are ok.

 

[tiki244]

I am sorry for your loss Tara

 

[sweetshoplady]

I'm sorry about your hen.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Sorry about your loss. My little Butika died last week and I'm still not used to her not being there.
They do become part of the family, just like cats and dogs...

 

[one2beeluved]

They have no signs of mite that I can see. They take dust baths often but they usually don't pick at themselves. She was not underweight... she was actually quite plump but the paleness came overnight and she was gone within a couple hours of noticing the fact she was pale. All my hens are of normal weight or plump and lay eggs most days. There was one hen w/ spotting on the egg shell and I noticed last night while gathering the eggs one of the sussex eggs had unusual blood spotting on the shell that is usually not there. Any ideas... could a whole flock of 6 have anemia? I buy quality food and scratch and give them some food scraps from time to time. Thanks for all the responses. Tara

 

[DDRanch]

I am so sorry for your loss. Many folks on this forum know how hard the loss of one of our beautiful girls can be. You have come to the right place for understanding and hugs.
Anne

 

[SpottedCrow]

You're welcome Tara.
a product like Rooster Booster might help if there's anaemia.

The storey's guide says that losses up to 5% a year are acceptable.(!)
It also says that acute septicemia can cause a bird to basically drop in it's tracks.

 

[patandchickens]

if she became pale only hours before death, that is NOT indicative of anemia, so do not get all concerned about that. It doubtless reflected whatever it was that did her in, but unfortunately I dunno as it's specific enough to be able to reliably guess the exact problem.

Unfortunately, because poultry is generally raised in very large flocks and veterinary research has concentrated on the commercial aspects, chickens kind of have two main identifiable states, healthy or dead. Much much less seems to be known about the relatively small grey area in between than is known for other domestic animals such as dogs, cats, horses, etcetera. If vets and researchers were chickens themselves instead of being human, I'm sure we'd have far better diagnostic capabilities

, but as things are, most research seems to have been focused on two things - prevention, and deciding whether to cull just the sick individuals or the whole flock. Not much help for you and me. Sigh.

I can well understand your worry, but it is not really obvious to me that there is necessarily any concern for the rest of the flock at this point, since they seem healthy, right?

Condolences,

Pat

 

[jjthink]

I'm so sorry Tara :aww
JJ

 

[one2beeluved]

Yes,,,,, i stayed home today to keep an eye on my other 5 hens. So far so good. No one has signs of paleness or the strange behavior she was having yesterday. I will keep my fingers crossed that it was just a fluke or she was egg bound with out me noticing. I may just worm them tomorrow as a precaution. Thank you everyone. I'm feeling better as I thought there might have been a way to prevent this ... but after reading posts and my books I believe there was nothing I could have done.. ie vet or otherwise. Tara