Holy Smokes!!! Help Please!!! Hen Starts Having Convulsions!!!

[pennie1]

Just 10 minutes ago I was out in the chicken yard and one of my 2 yr. old RIR hens starts sneezing repeatedly. It isn't just a normal sneeze but it is wracking her whole body and is sneezing clear fluid up to 2 ft. Then she goes into convulsions. I pick her up and try to check her out but the convulsions are so bad I couldn't even hold her. I took her out of the pen and she dies!!! She has shown NO symtoms of anything and has been eating well and pooping normal. Everything has been fine. There has been no change in food. NOTHING is different. She's been laying regularly. I mean NOTHING is different.

Any ideas?

 

[speckledhen]

So hard to say, really. Could have been poisoned somehow, busted a blood vessel in her brain, or just anything. Sorry about your hen. I hate feeling helpless.

 

[pennie1]

That is a complete understatement. I stood there in shock at first thinking okay maybe she's catching something and I will segragate her and give her some Electrolytes. But then she just WENT!! It is absolutely WEIRD. I sprayed down the pen, but I might keep the chickens out of there and rototill it with some vinegar or something mixed in to help sterilize it. Any ideas?

 

[pennie1]

Come on people. I could use some ideas. Please.

 

[speckledhen]

Most birds have sort of a seizure when they die. Is she super thin? if so, she could have had egg peritionitis for awhile.

 

[pennie1]

No, she was really in nice shape like the rest of my girls. She's been laying consistently every other day. But just out of curiousity what is egg peritinitis? That is one (out of many I'm sure) I haven't heard of.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

The only way to know for sure is to get her necropsied. Check your local teaching hospital or through your Dept of Agriculture for your State Vet to get referrals. Many states provide free necropsies. But if you saw no previous signs of illness and your other chickens are not showing signs of illness, you may just have an isolated case. Chickens die for many different reasons. They can have heart attacks or strokes. i have had chickens die from cancer, ruptured liver, and then one jumped up and bonked her head on something and broke her neck.

Convulsions could be due to trying to lay a large egg that restricts a blood vessel. This happened to one of my chickens, but she didn't die. Somehow the egg passed and she survived. But before the egg came out she staggered around, then went board stiff and vomited, convulsed a bit - then by the time i got her rushed to the vet she was up and pecking around, and a little while later an egg came out.

i tell you, the longer you own chickens, the more strange things you will see.

Anyhow, so sorry about your girl.

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

I had one die like that, but she was is shock from blood loss.

 

[pennie1]

The horrendous sneezing was probably the strangest part. I thought she was choking to death. She would sneeze - gasp, sneeze - gasp. The more I think about it, she probably did choke to death and it happened so fast I couldn't do anything to save her. The convulsions were probably the body shutting down (like when you slaughter them).

Well, RIP pretty lady.

I hope the eggs hatch that are under my broody. I'm running low on RIR's now.

 

[speckledhen]

Egg peritonitis is common in production breeds. Egg yolks deposit in the abdomen and set up an infection. If you do a search of internal laying/egg peritionitis/salpingitis/false laying, you'll see that the terms are sometimes used interchangeably and the conditions result in the same thing, death. No prevention, no cure.