- Jun 15, 2012
- 2
- 0
- 7
OK. Novice chicken lady here.
I had 8 hens. Now I have 7.
The one that died last Saturday (Mildred) was about 2 or 3 yrs old. She was out running around with the rest of the ladies doing their chicken thing. She was the queen sort a speak.
After about 2 hours I put them back in their outdoor pen. Went into the house for about 30 mins. Went out to see if there were any eggs to gather and Mildred was dead. Just laying there. The other ladies were extremly quiet, like they were afraid I might question them under the light inside the coop. "Where were you at 8:30AM on Feb. 2, 2013?" Suicide? Old age? Murder?
Anyway, after I cleaned the crime scene I decided to do an autopsy.
When I cut her open (after we plucked her) I noticed her crop was full of bird seed that she had eatten, with the other hens, from under the bird feeder. There was also a hard ball of seed in there too. OH! she also had a beautiful fully developed egg that looked like it was ready to come out. It was the same size as her other eggs.
The other thing I found was that the gizzard was rock hard and quite large. I cut that open to see what was inside and it was jam packed with a solid compact substance.
I cleaned her out, cut her up into portions and put her in a freezer bag, labled it "Mildred Feb. 2, 2013" and put her in the freezer.
I read about gizzard impaction and wondered if this might have been the cause of death. Also, is it ok to eat the meat?
I had 8 hens. Now I have 7.
The one that died last Saturday (Mildred) was about 2 or 3 yrs old. She was out running around with the rest of the ladies doing their chicken thing. She was the queen sort a speak.
After about 2 hours I put them back in their outdoor pen. Went into the house for about 30 mins. Went out to see if there were any eggs to gather and Mildred was dead. Just laying there. The other ladies were extremly quiet, like they were afraid I might question them under the light inside the coop. "Where were you at 8:30AM on Feb. 2, 2013?" Suicide? Old age? Murder?
Anyway, after I cleaned the crime scene I decided to do an autopsy.
When I cut her open (after we plucked her) I noticed her crop was full of bird seed that she had eatten, with the other hens, from under the bird feeder. There was also a hard ball of seed in there too. OH! she also had a beautiful fully developed egg that looked like it was ready to come out. It was the same size as her other eggs.
The other thing I found was that the gizzard was rock hard and quite large. I cut that open to see what was inside and it was jam packed with a solid compact substance.
I cleaned her out, cut her up into portions and put her in a freezer bag, labled it "Mildred Feb. 2, 2013" and put her in the freezer.
I read about gizzard impaction and wondered if this might have been the cause of death. Also, is it ok to eat the meat?
