Lost a Hen Tonight, Worried about disease.

[CosmoTheRooster]

I lost a beloved hen in my flock tonight, Daisy. I was away from the house and come home to find my family trying to help her. Appearently, they found her lying on her side, barely responsive next to our coop entrance. The other chickens in our flock were all surrounded around her as if they were comforting her or protecting her. They carefully relocated her to a tub lined with a towel indoors. I immediately came home after hearing of this, and quickly began to take action. She was on her side, and was largely unresponsive to touch. She was barely able to support her head, and keep her eyes open. I syringe fed her sugar mixed water in very small amounts, and she was able to gulp down whatever I gave her. I made sure to only give her a small amount to avoid choking. I splashed a few drops of water across her head, she would widen her eyes for a small amount of time, and then slowly close them. She was unable to support her neck. I did not want to lose her, and caressed her supporting her neck. Very quickly, she started kicking and moving her he'd in pain. She became completely unresponsive, and a stringy/viscous liquid dripped from her beak. She had died in my arms tonight. I buried her and said a prayer for Daisy, as I love all my pet chickens like family. I am very worried that there may be a disease or illness she caught and spread. I want to take immediate action if I can narrow the cause of this. Thank you.

 

[wornoutmomto3]

I am sorry for your loss.

If it is disease you would probably have seen signs earlier than this. Without a much more thorough history of the hen and her environment it is hard to narrow down anything specific. It is possible she ate something toxic. Or she could have been bitten by something (ie: snake, wasp, etc.). If she was of laying age it could be egg binding. I understand why you buried her, I really do. Unfortunately, that now means you can't send her body to be tested for disease.

If you are not going the organic route you can always put the rest of the flock on an antibiotic as a preventative measure, but it isn't really recommended without knowing what caused her death. You are going to need to do a bit of detective work. Search the yard for predator nests and toxic substances (bits of trash or other inedible objects, especially plastic). Think back, have you been getting eggs from her regularly, have you applied chemicals to the yard recently? Is there an overcrowding issue in the coop that could lead to fighting? It is going to take a bit of searching and you may not even find the answer. As for the rest of the flock, keep a close watch on them. Look for "odd" or unusual behavior. If another starts acting ill then disease just jumped to the top of the suspect list, and you may want to get the flock tested at that point.

 

[CosmoTheRooster]

I appreciate it. I am closely watching them. We have wasps all over the place, and live right next to a creek bed(snakes). What is a good medicine/anti-biotic to put the flock on? I want to get them on something just for preventative measures.

 

[Living4birds]

I'm so sorry, I know what it's like to have a pet die in your arms with nothing you can do about it. My guinea fowl was attacked by a hawk and I couldn't save her I've never had anything like his happen to a chicken. Although I've lost several yo an unknown disease that comes around once a year and takes about two of my hens. If your seriously worried if you see any of these symptoms again try recording them so if the chicken doesn't make it you can show it to a vet and they might know what to make of it. Again I'm so sorry about Daisy.