Hen not fully recovering from unknown illness

[Lifewithchicks]

When you say she was drinking lots prior to this and had a swollen belly, I am wondering if she had Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome. This is where the liver becomes impregnated with fat and loses it's structure and ruptures, leaking fluid into the abdominal cavity. It can kill pretty quickly. It generally affects larger built birds and can be related to diet..... in particular a carbohydrate rich diet due to too much scratch/corn/bread/rice etc. No sure what you feed but might be worth assessing your flocks diet just in case the treats have got out of hand..... some people also experience this with whole grain (often organic) feeds where the hens can pick out their favourite components of the feed, as oppose to a pellet or crumble which is homogenous.
Of course it may also have been a reproductive issue like Salpingitis or internal laying although it usually takes weeks or months for those to become lethal and you often see the bird waddling and struggling for breath. Antibiotics alone are rarely effective in such cases and usually only buy the hen a few weeks longer.

They are on an organic layer feed. They are picky and don’t really like many treats other than mealworms, which we use when we need to get them in the coop. They free range every day. We have tried the pellets before but it didn’t seem like they eat them at all. We used to feed scratch n peck feed but lately my husband has been getting the organic layer from TS

 

[Lifewithchicks]

Just in case...
http://tvmdl.tamu.edu/species/avian/

Thank you and I honestly wish I could but it’s very important to my daughter to bury her and I have to honor that.

 

[rebrascora]

A number of people here on BYC have lost birds to Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome after feeding Scratch and Peck and other similar whole grain feeds. I appreciate what you are saying about them not liking pellets but if you had brought your children up to have the option of fries every day and then you stopped the fries and only gave them boiled potatoes or rice, they too might turn their noses up. Sometimes you have to dish out tough love.
Those whole grain feeds provide a nutritionally balanced diet but the aggregate nature of them gives the chickens the opportunity to pick and choose which bits of it they want to eat. Many will choose the high carbohydrate bits like corn over the healthier higher protein lentils and end up not getting a balanced diet as a result. These feeds also lend themselves to a lot of waste as the birds bill out the feed to find their favourite bits and can attract rodents to the overspill.
The fines (the powdery component) which contains the essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins also often get wasted or not enough gets consumed to meet the nutritional needs of the bird. Apparently caged pet birds like parrots are also prone to Fatty Liver problems because of their seed mix feed allowing them to pick and choose in the same way. The worst of it is that you pay a premium price for these feeds and they are not necessarily doing your hens any favours. I have heard that fermenting them helps improve a more uniform uptake, if you wanted to go down that route. Fermenting feed provides benefits of probiotics and bio availability of nutrients and is very simple to do.... there are severel very good threads here on BYC about it.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[Lifewithchicks]

A number of people here on BYC have lost birds to Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome after feeding Scratch and Peck and other similar whole grain feeds. I appreciate what you are saying about them not liking pellets but if you had brought your children up to have the option of fries every day and then you stopped the fries and only gave them boiled potatoes or rice, they too might turn their noses up. Sometimes you have to dish out tough love.
Those whole grain feeds provide a nutritionally balanced diet but the aggregate nature of them gives the chickens the opportunity to pick and choose which bits of it they want to eat. Many will choose the high carbohydrate bits like corn over the healthier higher protein lentils and end up not getting a balanced diet as a result. These feeds also lend themselves to a lot of waste as the birds bill out the feed to find their favourite bits and can attract rodents to the overspill.
The fines (the powdery component) which contains the essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins also often get wasted or not enough gets consumed to meet the nutritional needs of the bird. Apparently caged pet birds like parrots are also prone to Fatty Liver problems because of their seed mix feed allowing them to pick and choose in the same way. The worst of it is that you pay a premium price for these feeds and they are not necessarily doing your hens any favours. I have heard that fermenting them helps improve a more uniform uptake, if you wanted to go down that route. Fermenting feed provides benefits of probiotics and bio availability of nutrients and is very simple to do.... there are severel very good threads here on BYC about it.

Best wishes

Barbara

Thank you, Barbara. I had no idea about any of that and truly thought I was feeding them the best thing. To know I may have caused this is almost too much to bear. My heart hurts. They definitely pick through the feed, so it makes sense. I will go buy pellets today. I don’t worry about them not eating as much with getting free range time daily. I guess they’ll eat it when they’re hungry enough.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, I don’t think I’ll be able to with the kids. They are very distraught. We saved some of her feathers and are going to have a burial for her later. I thought about the painted rocks. We lost one very early on to unknown causes but this is our first real loss of now our mature original flock of 3 years, and we are very close to our hens and spend time with them everyday. It’s truly heartbreaking. Even my 2 year old son was crying.

Yes, give her a burial. I have a lot of rocks, so I find one and paint it. You could even paint a clay flower pot (have the kids help) with her name and put some pansies or violets in the pot, to mark her grave.

 

[Kiki]

A number of people here on BYC have lost birds to Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome after feeding Scratch and Peck and other similar whole grain feeds. I appreciate what you are saying about them not liking pellets but if you had brought your children up to have the option of fries every day and then you stopped the fries and only gave them boiled potatoes or rice, they too might turn their noses up. Sometimes you have to dish out tough love.
Those whole grain feeds provide a nutritionally balanced diet but the aggregate nature of them gives the chickens the opportunity to pick and choose which bits of it they want to eat. Many will choose the high carbohydrate bits like corn over the healthier higher protein lentils and end up not getting a balanced diet as a result. These feeds also lend themselves to a lot of waste as the birds bill out the feed to find their favourite bits and can attract rodents to the overspill.
The fines (the powdery component) which contains the essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins also often get wasted or not enough gets consumed to meet the nutritional needs of the bird. Apparently caged pet birds like parrots are also prone to Fatty Liver problems because of their seed mix feed allowing them to pick and choose in the same way. The worst of it is that you pay a premium price for these feeds and they are not necessarily doing your hens any favours. I have heard that fermenting them helps improve a more uniform uptake, if you wanted to go down that route. Fermenting feed provides benefits of probiotics and bio availability of nutrients and is very simple to do.... there are severel very good threads here on BYC about it.

Best wishes

Barbara

X2. Great post. I couldn't agree more.

 

[Lifewithchicks]

Yes, give her a burial. I have a lot of rocks, so I find one and paint it. You could even paint a clay flower pot (have the kids help) with her name and put some pansies or violets in the pot, to mark her grave.

That is a beautiful idea. We each painted a rock but I really like the flower pot idea too. I think the whole burial was healing for the kids. We sure are going to miss her. The other girls are looking for her and it’s heart wrenching to see.

 

[Lifewithchicks]

X2. Great post. I couldn't agree more.

I went and got pellets and changed out their feeder. Hopefully the rest of them will be okay. The original sick hen, Snowflake, seems totally normal but she still won’t roost. We have to put her on it every night. I don’t understand why she can’t jump/fly anymore. I’m going to have my husband install a very low roost for her.

 

[rebrascora]

I don’t understand why she can’t jump/fly anymore. I’m going to have my husband install a very low roost for her.

Does she feel unusually heavy? Compare with other hens at roost time. Often when they have ascites (water belly) they aren't comfortable jumping up and down. If you cup your hand and feel between her legs and compare to one of your other healthy hens, there should be a noticeable difference if she has ascites. If she has, that could well indicate that her liver is also compromised.

It is good to read that you have switched to a pellet. If you have difficulty getting them to eat the new feed, try making a mash by adding warm water to a small amount and allowing it to swell and feeding them that. They should accept it better. It is important for the majority of their diet to be made up of the pellets because of the calcium and protein content.... both are required to make good quality eggs.... but they may go on strike for a few days until they get used to the pellets, so soaking some can help tempt them into eating during the transition phase. Good luck.

 

[Lifewithchicks]

Does she feel unusually heavy? Compare with other hens at roost time. Often when they have ascites (water belly) they aren't comfortable jumping up and down. If you cup your hand and feel between her legs and compare to one of your other healthy hens, there should be a noticeable difference if she has ascites. If she has, that could well indicate that her liver is also compromised.

It is good to read that you have switched to a pellet. If you have difficulty getting them to eat the new feed, try making a mash by adding warm water to a small amount and allowing it to swell and feeding them that. They should accept it better. It is important for the majority of their diet to be made up of the pellets because of the calcium and protein content.... both are required to make good quality eggs.... but they may go on strike for a few days until they get used to the pellets, so soaking some can help tempt them into eating during the transition phase. Good luck.

She is lighter than the others. When I brought her to the vet, she was underweight and they didn’t notice any swelling. I compared her to Jasmine (the one that died) a few days ago when I noticed Jasmine was swollen. I will try to compare her to one of the healthy girls today. She did have a poopy butt that I had to clean up yesterday evening, if this indicates anything.

They all pecked at the pellets some yesterday, so I’m not too worried about it. Snowflake especially seemed to like it.