It's all over but the post mortum.

[chicknewbie]

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

 

[Kitty Cat]

Actually that sounds a little like Mareks. It causes tumors to grow inside and eventually causes death. I haven't experienced it in my flock but I've done a good bit of reading. I could be wrong though. I'm not sure that there's a cure for Mericks. Sorry to hear your hen died.

http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/page9.htm


http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf




Here are a few links for Mareks.

 

[chicknewbie]

Thanks Kitty Cat. I read the links you posted and you may be right. I don't have experience looking at internal organs and such so can not be sure what I'm looking at. These masses seemed to be inside of an organ as I had to cut through tough tissue to get to them.

 

[Rocky Top Chick]

Hi Chickenewbie,

I live right up the road from you. Small world ! I think your problem sounds like an egg issue and your girl was loaded with egg yokes that never formed eggs. I also have had my girls for 2 years and never encountered any laying problems, but I am sure there are those on this forum who know what could have caused your problem.