Hen convulsed and died in dd's arms

[omelette'smom]

I got home from work and was told my Le Fleche hen died last night. My 11 year old dd went to lock them in and saw Michelle convulsing under the deck. She got her out and the 1 year old hen died in her arms. She will have a "funeral" after school today so I CANNOT do an autopsy. The only access to pesticides would be 7 that I sprinkled in the run 2 days ago and raked in. All my other hens and Barry the Roo are doing great. What would cause convulsions before death? From what I read, eggbound makes them lathargic...but do they convulse? (She was a faithful egglayer and I'm pretty sure it wasn't that but...) Like I said, I won't be able to autopsy, so any ideas of what happened maybe I can visually rule a few things out. I haven't seen her yet and not sure where my dh put her so I can't tell you stool, eyes are cloudy or anything like that. Thank You. ~~Pam~~

 

[highcountrychickens]

Oh your poor DD! I'm so sorry, that's hard on a little girl's heart.

I would call your vet before burial... at least consult with him/her to be certain you don't have something in your flock that just hasn't shown up in the rest of the birds yet.

Were the pesticides you spread and raked granulated? It could be that she hunted the grains if that's the case. The timing is right, and raking leaves a lot behind. Your Vet will know the symptoms.

I always believe knowing gives better peace than burying and not knowing...

btw, here's a study I found done by a pesticide specialist at Penn State... should read - not about poultry but people... sorta long and boring, but the first list will be a bit unnerving:

http://www.safe2use.com/poisons-pesticides/pesticides/misc/sevin-carbaryl-old.htm

I'm so sorry you have lost your hen, and hope you are able to find out what happened...

 

[omelette'smom]

Thank you for the reply. I thought Sevin was supposed to be safe!! I used the powdered form and have a dirt run but started to get flies so i broke up the earth and raked in about a cup's worth in the 17x8 run. I hope that's not what did it. I've read that it's used in nest boxes too. I will keep an eye on the other girls...

 

[Southernbelle]

I've used Sevin a lot before and never had a bird drop on me. If you'd like to find out what she died of you could have a necropsy done. Our state vet doesn't charge anything to do them and it would help to know what happened.

 

[omelette'smom]

Okay...that's a bit more comfort on the guilt end of it. I still haven't found where he is keeping her body safe to look at her. I wanted to look down her throat and see if she choked or something. I feel bad I wasn't there...for both of them.

 

[JennsPeeps]

My heart goes out to your DD. Give her lots of hugs (I'm sure you are!).

When my hen died in my arms last March, she'd been comatose for hours. When DBF walked into the room (he was her fav), she opened her eyes for the first time since the previous day, gaped her beak a few time, and then died. She didn't convulse as yours did, however your hen may simply have had nerve firings as she passed away.