Hi All,
I had my first chicken death yesterday. This is my first experience at raising chickens and I started this flock of 8 hens, one roo, 2 years ago. I had 2 Leghorn/RIRed sex link hens that had enlarged abdomens. They waddled when they walked, had pale combs, and a lot of poo stuck to their butts. When they first started acting sick I thought it might be worms so gave wormer. After a month they seemed a little better but not normal and the abdomen seemed even bigger. I did a lot of reading and thought maybe it was an egg problem. Day before yesterday I gave one of the hens a warm soapy soak, which she seemed to relax into. I the process I discovered a mite infestation. After getting her dry I decided to try the pillowcase filled with DE to dust her down. She did not put up much of a struggle but during the process I turned her upside down to powder her bottom and she died. I felt bad but after doing a necropsy of her I know she was not long for this world anyway. Now I'm just looking for an explanation of what she had. When I opened her up she had 2 hand sized masses on either side of her body. They were yellow in color and very dense weighing half a pound or so each. Could this be months worth of egg material that solidified? With 8 hens I don't know who lays what but I usually get 3 to 4 eggs a day. The other hen is still alive but I'm thinking it might be best to put her down. As I said I can not imagine survival of this situation. All ideas welcome. Thanks
I had my first chicken death yesterday. This is my first experience at raising chickens and I started this flock of 8 hens, one roo, 2 years ago. I had 2 Leghorn/RIRed sex link hens that had enlarged abdomens. They waddled when they walked, had pale combs, and a lot of poo stuck to their butts. When they first started acting sick I thought it might be worms so gave wormer. After a month they seemed a little better but not normal and the abdomen seemed even bigger. I did a lot of reading and thought maybe it was an egg problem. Day before yesterday I gave one of the hens a warm soapy soak, which she seemed to relax into. I the process I discovered a mite infestation. After getting her dry I decided to try the pillowcase filled with DE to dust her down. She did not put up much of a struggle but during the process I turned her upside down to powder her bottom and she died. I felt bad but after doing a necropsy of her I know she was not long for this world anyway. Now I'm just looking for an explanation of what she had. When I opened her up she had 2 hand sized masses on either side of her body. They were yellow in color and very dense weighing half a pound or so each. Could this be months worth of egg material that solidified? With 8 hens I don't know who lays what but I usually get 3 to 4 eggs a day. The other hen is still alive but I'm thinking it might be best to put her down. As I said I can not imagine survival of this situation. All ideas welcome. Thanks
