Necropsy results: Fatty Liver

[ChicNmom]

I'm never going to believe too much grass makes chickens fat.

Scratch? Totally.
Bad table scraps? Yep.
And maybe you have a few that just love chicken feed too much.

 

[Dynamissa]

I would urge the OP @Dynamissa to go back and read the article posted by Hendrix Genetics again in post 2, where it discusses eating high energy diets (carbs) and too much feed that can lead to fatty liver. This thread has gotten a little off topic with all of the opinions. Personally, I think that free ranging helps them control their intake of chicken feed, and the grasses, bugs, worms, and other things are part of the balance and good for them.

Do you think it would be worth looking into things like milk thistle supplements and whatnot for the flock? Is there an easy way to administer these things?

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you think it would be worth looking into things like milk thistle supplements and whatnot for the flock? Is there an easy way to administer these things?

I have not used those or know much about them. Some people raise grasses and sprouts in flat pans for chickens. They cover them in 1/2 hardware cloth so the chickens can eat the greens but not down to the root. It’s unfortunate that you can’t free range, even just a small section of yard. Some do it the hour before dusk so that they go back into the coop on their own. But you have to follow the rules. Having chickens in a subdivision isn’t always easy. Really, though, I think this one chicken was predestined to fatty liver. It may not happen again or that often. I would just not give them too many extras except their usual feed, and the occasional treat of egg or similar.

 

[Dynamissa]

I have not used those or know much about them. Some people raise grasses and sprouts in flat pans for chickens. They cover them in 1/2 hardware cloth so the chickens can eat the greens but not down to the root. It’s unfortunate that you can’t free range, even just a small section of yard. Some do it the hour before dusk so that they go back into the coop on their own. But you have to follow the rules. Having chickens in a subdivision isn’t always easy. Really, though, I think this one chicken was predestined to fatty liver. It may not happen again or that often. I would just not give them too many extras except their usual feed, and the occasional treat of egg or similar.

We’re planning ways to expand the enclosed in area a bit more, so we’re working on it! With be England winter coming up though our time is limited.

Definitely will look into raising the grasses!

Thinking about it I am starting to believe it was indeed unfortunate circumstances for Cookie. She had us convinced she was a rooster by 8 weeks with. Red comb and wattles growing in and started to lay at 14.5 weeks, that says something hormonal to me and apparently excess estrogen is a big thing with flhd. She laid double rollers every day and died immediately after laying a particularly large egg.

The other EE I got her with didn’t start laying until 18 weeks as was definitely much less behind her developmentally.

Thanks so much for the input!

I couldn’t find an image of her and her “sister” both at 8 weeks but Cookie is the orange one at 8 weeks and 12 weeks and the red one is Nugget at 12 weeks… so you can see how much further along Cookie was

 

[coach723]

Genetics can definitely play a big role. I bought a batch of sex links probably 7 years ago, they all got really fat. I'd never had that happen before in my flock. All the rest of my birds were fine. I lost several that had awful looking livers at necropsy, and lots of abdominal fat. They were also very intolerant of heat. So whatever the genetics of that particular batch was, not good. I never hatched any eggs from any of them, didn't want to pass those genes on. I have only one of them left currently, they weren't a healthy/hardy group.

 

[FlyingBoar]

My 1 year old black silkie passed of the same thing. We got a necropsy done and it was due to fatty liver. And it was our fault. We fed so much scratch and human food. Our vet had to scold us and tell us to only feed a handful of scratch. And fresh fruits and veggies are great! Anything they take a long time to peck at.