Lost one of my Girls today

[JimmyShawns]

Yesterday my 5 month old Brownie was very lethargic, just not acting right.
This morning she was gone
After some online research tonight (this group popped up so I joined) she may have been eggbound. 2 hens are same age. With 3 other hens which are 4 month olds. None have laid eggs yet. Any guidance will be appreciated.
Thanks. JAMES

 

[Shezadandy]

Yesterday my 5 month old Brownie was very lethargic, just not acting right.
This morning she was gone
After some online research tonight (this group popped up so I joined) she may have been eggbound. 2 hens are same age. With 3 other hens which are 4 month olds. None have laid eggs yet. Any guidance will be appreciated.
Thanks. JAMES

Sorry for your loss. Based on the photo, I notice open mouth panting- so it's possible she was either overcome by the heat or had a heart attack trying to cool down. Their hearts work really, really hard when it's hot enough for that kind of panting to get the blood to the areas where they can shed a little heat. They spread their wings out and increase respiration and heart rate in an effort to cool off. As they gain body mass and of course their full feathers, where cooling off might not have been as big of an issue before, the changes can tip them over the edge, especially if there's already some other pathology at work.

Usually you won't see egg binding when nobody has laid an egg yet. Mercifully most first eggs are small. I will add that first time layers can exhibit confused behavior and jump all over the coop trying to figure things out (until they figure out that eggs happen almost every day and that's what the nest boxes are for) - so that could have played a role if she was about to pop the first egg out- increased restlessness and heat together are a bad combo.

To help cool them off, fans, fans and more fans, during the day and at night. If you have birds who are struggling more than others to cool down (especially at night), consider putting them in a crate somewhere cooler (but not right by an A/C vent) in your house and releasing them back in the morning after they've had a comfortable restful night to recover from the heat. Of course lots of cold water - feeding watermelon - fans that blow on them and under them at night while on the roost - and a coop with lots of ventilation - are the best preventative measures.

 

[Marie2020]

Sorry you loss one

My girls started laying a little later than four months, it was more like six month's. For the heat I've used old white sheets for them to hide underneath as there's no electricity in their coop and keep changing their water with added ice

 

[JimmyShawns]

Sorry for your loss. Based on the photo, I notice open mouth panting- so it's possible she was either overcome by the heat or had a heart attack trying to cool down. Their hearts work really, really hard when it's hot enough for that kind of panting to get the blood to the areas where they can shed a little heat. They spread their wings out and increase respiration and heart rate in an effort to cool off. As they gain body mass and of course their full feathers, where cooling off might not have been as big of an issue before, the changes can tip them over the edge, especially if there's already some other pathology at work.

Usually you won't see egg binding when nobody has laid an egg yet. Mercifully most first eggs are small. I will add that first time layers can exhibit confused behavior and jump all over the coop trying to figure things out (until they figure out that eggs happen almost every day and that's what the nest boxes are for) - so that could have played a role if she was about to pop the first egg out- increased restlessness and heat together are a bad combo.

To help cool them off, fans, fans and more fans, during the day and at night. If you have birds who are struggling more than others to cool down (especially at night), consider putting them in a crate somewhere cooler (but not right by an A/C vent) in your house and releasing them back in the morning after they've had a comfortable restful night to recover from the heat. Of course lots of cold water - feeding watermelon - fans that blow on them and under them at night while on the roost - and a coop with lots of ventilation - are the best preventative measures.

Thanks for all of the the info. That pic was taken last month.

 

[Shezadandy]

Thanks for all of the the info. That pic was taken last month.

Was there any evidence of a broken egg? Dried yellow goop in/around tail feathers? Every once in a while a pullet might lay a soft shelled egg - if it breaks internally and starts an infection, that's sadly how a good majority of chickens who live out their natural lives are lost.

They don't have a diaphram that separates their reproductive tract from the rest of their organs, so if there's an internal egg break it goes everywhere and there's no real treatment. (known as egg yolk peritonitis, generally you see more symptoms over a longer time)

Egg binding generally won't take them down quite that fast - and there are other symptoms like straining (looks like a penguin), inability to pass feces, and generally the egg (if there's one stuck) is easy enough to locate.

Based on what you mentioned though, losing one in a day tends to be organ failure.

 

[Callender Girl]

No sound advice here. Just wanted to say I'm sorry about Brownie.