Just lost a hen.
Athena is an EE hen - unknown age - more likely a araucana cross (no muffs/beard, tailed). We bought her at an auction this past summer. She is the beta hen, always healthy, good egg layer, non-aggressive. Up until recently, we got eggs very steadily from all of our girls. suddenly, we havent. We have assumed that something has been eating them after finding an empty egg shell, and yolk in the nest. Our girls shouldnt have mites as we've treated them for that. They got A LOT of pumpkin innards/seeds/etc the other day as a "natural de-wormer".
Athena always was skittish, but never sickly. Good sized bird, healthy, never had any problems. Gorgeous eggs.
Today, I got home and let the girls out somewhere between 4:10 - 4:20 to free range. Everybody was fine. No blood, no strange behaivior, nothing. Athena looked fine - not wobbly, ran around, talked, normal stuff. They had run out, again, so I filled it up. Gathered the eggs, went back to the house.
Then, about 5:00 or so, Dad told me he came home, but heard all the chickens making a fuss (cackling, etc) said he went down to check. Nothing ran in or out of the house, nothing. Said a few were on roost, but the others were standing outside the door, still making a fuss. But, that nothing else seemed out of place. He then came in, and promptly told me that the chooks were hollering, standing outside the door, not anything wrong, and that they are "stupid". Knowing that SOMETHING was happening, I jogged down to the coop. It was dusk, and dark enough I couldnt see real well.
There in the the corner of the coop, was athenas body. It was in the small corner between the chickens' door to the run and the main door to the coop. Looked, and all the other birds were on roost. I ran back, told dad something was into my chickens and a hen was dead, to bring a flashlight. We got back, and looked at her body. Her right let was sticking up in the air - wings to her sides - and neck straighforward, but head slightly bent (it was NOT at a strange angle, didnt look to be broken). Her mouth was open and eyes closed. The other birds were upset, but apparently unharmed. Dad picked her up by one leg, and we looked all over at the body - we could NOT see any blood or wounds - nothing looked out of place.
We took her body back to the house for closer examination. We found that there was something wrong with her vent. There was a yellow substance, I dont know what, and her vent was red, angry, and apparently inflamed looking. I had no clue what was wrong.
she had shown NO SIGNS of being egg-bound.....no lethargy, her abdomen was NOT swollen. I checked and felt of her gut post-mortem - it was firm, as if she was going to lay or something, but was not swollen and wasnt hard. There was no access blood around the vent area at all. I couldnt see any blood anywere in the coop either. I thought perhaps a prolapse, but there werent any guts hanging out.
Here are some pictures of the body, AFTER it was moved -
What was wrong with her? Do I need to take precautions? what can I do?
This is more than just livestock, these are my pets and babies! I am so shocked.....i dont think it has hit yet. Please, ANY help or suggestions will be so appreciated.....
Athena is an EE hen - unknown age - more likely a araucana cross (no muffs/beard, tailed). We bought her at an auction this past summer. She is the beta hen, always healthy, good egg layer, non-aggressive. Up until recently, we got eggs very steadily from all of our girls. suddenly, we havent. We have assumed that something has been eating them after finding an empty egg shell, and yolk in the nest. Our girls shouldnt have mites as we've treated them for that. They got A LOT of pumpkin innards/seeds/etc the other day as a "natural de-wormer".
Athena always was skittish, but never sickly. Good sized bird, healthy, never had any problems. Gorgeous eggs.
Today, I got home and let the girls out somewhere between 4:10 - 4:20 to free range. Everybody was fine. No blood, no strange behaivior, nothing. Athena looked fine - not wobbly, ran around, talked, normal stuff. They had run out, again, so I filled it up. Gathered the eggs, went back to the house.
Then, about 5:00 or so, Dad told me he came home, but heard all the chickens making a fuss (cackling, etc) said he went down to check. Nothing ran in or out of the house, nothing. Said a few were on roost, but the others were standing outside the door, still making a fuss. But, that nothing else seemed out of place. He then came in, and promptly told me that the chooks were hollering, standing outside the door, not anything wrong, and that they are "stupid". Knowing that SOMETHING was happening, I jogged down to the coop. It was dusk, and dark enough I couldnt see real well.
There in the the corner of the coop, was athenas body. It was in the small corner between the chickens' door to the run and the main door to the coop. Looked, and all the other birds were on roost. I ran back, told dad something was into my chickens and a hen was dead, to bring a flashlight. We got back, and looked at her body. Her right let was sticking up in the air - wings to her sides - and neck straighforward, but head slightly bent (it was NOT at a strange angle, didnt look to be broken). Her mouth was open and eyes closed. The other birds were upset, but apparently unharmed. Dad picked her up by one leg, and we looked all over at the body - we could NOT see any blood or wounds - nothing looked out of place.
We took her body back to the house for closer examination. We found that there was something wrong with her vent. There was a yellow substance, I dont know what, and her vent was red, angry, and apparently inflamed looking. I had no clue what was wrong.
she had shown NO SIGNS of being egg-bound.....no lethargy, her abdomen was NOT swollen. I checked and felt of her gut post-mortem - it was firm, as if she was going to lay or something, but was not swollen and wasnt hard. There was no access blood around the vent area at all. I couldnt see any blood anywere in the coop either. I thought perhaps a prolapse, but there werent any guts hanging out.
Here are some pictures of the body, AFTER it was moved -
What was wrong with her? Do I need to take precautions? what can I do?
This is more than just livestock, these are my pets and babies! I am so shocked.....i dont think it has hit yet. Please, ANY help or suggestions will be so appreciated.....
