My favourite chicken suddenly died.

[Minky]

I'm so sad this morning....... G.G. (greedy guts) is gone. Whats worse is my 6 yr old was the one who found her. It was her day to check for eggs. G.G. was the fattest, fluffiest, friendliest of my flock of 8. She would always come running full speed toward me if she saw I had oats. I bought them at 12 weeks, about 2 months ago. Our first egg came on Sunday (3 days ago) from Big Red (a Buff Orpington.) G.G. was the next to lay I suspected from her size and her red wattle and lobe thingies. I think she was a black maran. Yesterday afternoon around 530 I went to give them a chopped up pear that was going south, and she was keeping to herself, beak wide open, sort of staring off into outer space. Not approaching me at all, and when I would get closer, she moved away. I figured she may be having a hard time with her first egg??? No sneezing, no coughing, physically looked normal, except for breathing with her beak open, and being aloof.
This morning, it was my 6 yr olds turn to look for eggs, and she discovered her dead in the hay. (not in a nesting box).
I know we may never know for sure if it was a heart attack or if she was egg bound- but I'm wondering if there is anything I couldve done? Id like to know incase this happens again. Has anyone here been in a similar situation? I called the breeder this morning and he said "nope, nothing you can do. thats when they die, if their gonna die, when they start laying...as long as theres no coughing, sneezing or swollen eyes, I wouldnt worry about it. Livestock deadstock."
A bit harsh, yes. I asked if I couldnt have maybe helped her get her egg out if thats what it was, or if there is a way to feel for the egg etc... he said " well, most often if you try and help it ends up breaking inside of them and they die anyways".
Is this the experience of backyard chicken owners also? He has a lot of chickens and I cant see him hand feeding or going out of his way to help a chicken who is egg bound.

Can someone shed some light onto what has just happened? I'm so sad to have lost her. She really was so very friendly, and a delight to watch run down the drive at me.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Sorry for your loss, it's always our favorites that go first somehow.

First, you don't describe symptoms of egg binding which would be a penguin stance and tail pumping.

Second that farmer sounds like a Stew Pidasso! He doesn't know what he's talking about by saying at start of lay is when a chicken will die if they are going to. In addition to MANY people have successfully helped their hens become un egg bound without breaking the egg inside the hen.

Beak open is the only symptom you describe. Sounds like possibly choking/or obstructed air way. Only way to know for sure is to get a necropsy which can be free in some states (as a means of protecting our food supply chain). The body would need to be refrigerated. I highly doubt heart attack and think people who don't know will reach for whatever cause they can reason out. Unfortunately the open mouth breathing is a symptom of so many causes that without further clues is difficult to reason out. Here is a link to poultry symptom checker. Maybe book mark it for future reference. It's helpful, though not exact it tells you what the possibilities are....
http://www.poultrydvm.com/symptoms

Did you happen to check her for any injuries? Chickens being prey animals will hide ANY pain, discomfort, or anything that otherwise makes them seem like an easy target. Even their own flock may peck them to death and try to make them leave. So, many times by the time we see symptoms it may be worse than we realize.

If for some reason you do lose another bird and can't send this one, here is a link on how to send for necropsy...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures.799747/

And a link to the state vets... (it cost $40 here in CA at Davis)..
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf

Again so sorry for your loss.

Hope the rest of your birds continue to thrive!

I love watching them run towards me too!

 

[Minky]

Thanks for your reply. I'm glad to hear people have had success with helping egg bound hens. I will not "wait to see how she looks in the morning" next time. If I had any inclination something was seriously the matter I would've taken action. I'm not interested in getting a necropsy. I can only speculate. I hope the rest are ok and start laying without anymore glitches. Death is hard on everyone.

 

[deepbluesea]

Hi! I'm sooo sorry for the loss of your girl, and especially that your little one had to find her. Is she doing ok? Hope so.

I love it when they gallop toward me also. I lost my four-year-old Marans to a mysterious illness about a year ago; it's hard when you can't figure out what to do.
Wishing you well!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I had two of my favorite hen die suddenly on me with not even a symptom to go by. I had a bantam recently stop breathing because she got into some layer pellets and ate them way to fast. She is doing fine now for I was able to remove the pellets from her throat. I've had a lot of hens who eat their grain too fast and will start choking. The best thing that I have found to do is to massage their throat to get their food down. In the case of my bantam hen I had to massage the food out of her throat and get out of her mouth when it came up. Then I try to get her to drink water to soften up the food to make it go done easier. I watch my hens and know what they look like when they are choking. They usually rase their head high and then suddenly throw to one side. And when they can't breathe like my bantam their comb may turn purple and will have their mouth open and be gasping for air. I don't know if chickens could have seizures, but chickens can have heart attacks. I've had Cornish X's have heart attacks before.
I'm sorry about your hen.

 

[Minky]

Well maybe that was it. She was called G.G. (greedy guts) for a reason- would peck those oats out of my hand before anyone else even got close!! Thanks for the replies, and the tip on massaging the neck if I ever see that open mouth breathing again. Its nice to have a chicken community to speak to. Thanks peeps! (nice pun eh?)