Help - Older hen laying broken eggs

[aart]

The hen I put down last year was a new hampshire red ("Butterfly"). I had her euthanized and they did a necropsy. She was sick for a very long time, months. Towards the end, I tried to nurse her back to health while she lived in my bathroom for a few weeks. I even used a needle and syringe to drain the ascites fluid a few times. Everything I did made her feel better for 6-12 hours, but then she was really ill again. The necropsy revealed that all of her organs were a mess. Dark hard heart, spots on the lungs, green liver, and her intestines were packed with food; she wasn't digesting anything which explains why she was so skinny even though she was eating.

Did they do any histology to tell you what disease she had?

 

[yasmin817]

No testing was done, it was just an exploratory/visual necropsy.

 

[yasmin817]

I'm happy to report that Daisy has just started laying normal eggs again. She laid on Saturday and Sunday, skipped Monday, and laid yesterday and today. I am totally baffled and thrilled all at once. I will continue to monitor her and still need to crack open her eggs to see that everything is normal inside too. Thank you all for your support and advice! Will report back if anything changes.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's great to hear. Chickens are predictably unpredictable.

 

[aart]

That's great to hear. Chickens are predictably unpredictable.

Boy, THAT's for sure!!