My hen just died in my arms-please help me figure out why. :(

[enola]

Did you open her intestines to look inside of them? What did her liver look like? Runny yolk should not be inside a hen. Did you see little tiny egg yolks around the ovary? They should have looked a bunch of different sizes of beads.

 

[heiditam]

Did you open her intestines to look inside of them? What did her liver look like? Runny yolk should not be inside a hen. Did you see little tiny egg yolks around the ovary? They should have looked a bunch of different sizes of beads.

Yes, I cut open her intestines-only green gooey stuff.

NO tiny egg yolks around ovaries. The ovaries were very small. I nearly missed them. There was def yolk loose in what must be the ovuduct.

 

[enola]

About the bag of pellets your hens won't eat - does it smell funny - moldy - stale? Compare the smell of the old bag of feed to the new bag of feed. Since your hens are boney, you need to work on fattening them up. They need to have feed 24/7. Any treats should contain fats, meal worms, sunflower seeds. You should get them some chicken type probiotics and some vitamins, put them in the water 2 days a week. Have you wormed your chickens?

 

[heiditam]

About the bag of pellets your hens won't eat - does it smell funny - moldy - stale? Compare the smell of the old bag of feed to the new bag of feed. Since your hens are boney, you need to work on fattening them up. They need to have feed 24/7. Any treats should contain fats, meal worms, sunflower seeds. You should get them some chicken type probiotics and some vitamins, put them in the water 2 days a week. Have you wormed your chickens?

Bag of feed they are shunning is only a few days old and smells fine.

They get all those treats, and most of the others appear to be fine(barred rocks look kinda fat to me actually), but I will pick them up and feel them all...

4 of the 7 left were wormed with safeguard a few months ago.

I planned on worming them all in march. I really do not want to worm unless I have to, and seeing no worms or eggs in her system, I am hesitant.

 

[enola]

Did you look inside the intestines? Worms will be inside of organs. And some worms are barely visible unless you know exactly what you are looking for. There are some very good necropsy pictures on this site that you could compare to what you saw. If I were you, I would worm everyone now, not wait for March. Safeguard gets most worms. Valbazen gets more worms including tapeworms and capillary worms.

I am so sorry about her passing away.

 

[justplainbatty]

Yes. Maybe a little. I noticed that when I picked her up, but it is so hard to tell as I find these girls so bony to begin with.

And, she has not been eating well. None of them have...I got pellets instead of crumbles and they are just not eating them. :/ They have had scraps and scratch. Today I got crumbles and they all ran to it and starting pecking away.

Well, I did a necropsy. I know I am no expert but I looked at all organs and assumed if it was something obvious maybe I could tell...

NO worms anywhere. So I really don't think it was that. I looked everywhere.

Her intestines were pretty narrow-Not much in there. scant green goo. Her ovuduct was narrow too- had scant amount of runny loose yolk. No yolks or forming eggs in system otherwise. There was alot of yellow fatty tissue attached to her intestines, which I find odd, but that may be normal. Her crop-not much in it, but it was really horribly stinky. I had to take a step back it was so foul. Usual stuff-seeds, some meat scraps, some leafy greens and grass. Maybe 2 tablespoons at most. There was some liquid with it. Not much. Can you get sour crop without having a full compacted crop?


Anyhow, those are the biggest things I saw. Everything sure looked good to me. ?

Another clue is that she may have been roost laying everynight...if she was laying at all. I have 4 red stars who sleep next to each other, and one has been roost laying so I cannot figure out who it is, but it happens early early morning, right before it is light, and every single day. For about 2 weeks almost.

It's a little concerning that you didn't mention finding any grit or oyster shell in her crop or gizzard. They can't digest much of anything w/o grit or some sort of stones.

 

[heiditam]

Did you look inside the intestines? Worms will be inside of organs. And some worms are barely visible unless you know exactly what you are looking for. There are some very good necropsy pictures on this site that you could compare to what you saw. If I were you, I would worm everyone now, not wait for March. Safeguard gets most worms. Valbazen gets more worms including tapeworms and capillary worms.

I am so sorry about her passing away.

I cut intestines open.

It's a little concerning that you didn't mention finding any grit or oyster shell in her crop or gizzard. They can't digest much of anything w/o grit or some sort of stones.

I have free choice grit and shell in both run and coop and have seen them eat it...can you think of a reason she wouldn't?

In thinking about her passing, she really took a turn for the worse when I slightly angled her downwards to get a better feel of her vent area(I was checking for egg binding)...she let out a chirp and then after that she was super limp and passed shortly thereafter...does that indicate anything? Having head angled down and then limp head and death after? She was also puckering her vent when I was checking...

I am still trying to make sense of the bright green ooze coming from her vent-it was neon green.

Based on her tiny ovaries and no egg signs, I don't think she was laying although all her sisters are.

 

[justplainbatty]

I cut intestines open.


I have free choice grit and shell in both run and coop and have seen them eat it...can you think of a reason she wouldn't?

In thinking about her passing, she really took a turn for the worse when I slightly angled her downwards to get a better feel of her vent area(I was checking for egg binding)...she let out a chirp and then after that she was super limp and passed shortly thereafter...does that indicate anything? Having head angled down and then limp head and death after? She was also puckering her vent when I was checking...

I am still trying to make sense of the bright green ooze coming from her vent-it was neon green.

I don't know why a chicken would stop eating grit, that's a mystery. You said their was liquid in her crop so she may have aspirated when you tipped her-it's just a guess so don't get to feeling that you killed her. So sorry for you and your girl

 

[heiditam]

I don't know why a chicken would stop eating grit, that's a mystery. You said their was liquid in her crop so she may have aspirated when you tipped her-it's just a guess so don't get to feeling that you killed her. So sorry for you and your girl

Thanks. <3 About the crop-how much liquid is supposed to be in there? A little? None? What is normal?

 

[justplainbatty]

Thanks. <3 About the crop-how much liquid is supposed to be in there? A little? None? What is normal?

Well, that's a good question! As far as I know, total digestion time from beak to vent is only 2 hours. That is why they poop so often. I imagine that food in the crop is moist but most of the water passes on to the next phase fairly quickly. (gizzard, true stomach,etc). We're starting to get out of my range of knowledge here but I hope I have helped and given you new ideas to research.