New to BYC and need advice!

[facethemorning]

Hi there -

I am new to the BYC and need some sage chicken advice. A few days ago, one of my sex-link hens just laid down and died! She was only 9 months old, a great layer and healthy hen. When I picked her up, her neck kind of flopped around - but there was no sign of trauma on her body. She just pulled her feet up under her and she was gone! Anyone ever experience that kind of loss?

Very happy to be here...hoping to learn a lot. I am new to the chicken world....

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you are here!

I know Wikipedia is not totally reliable, but this is one of the simplest explanations I can find of Fatty Liver Syndrome. I would consider this a possibility in your case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_liver_hemorrhagic_syndrome

I have had hens that I found a lot like you describe. In one of them, I suspect Fatty Liver Syndrome. That may be why I sometimes rant on here about overfeeding chickens. In another, I think she hit the feeder when flying down from the roost and broke her neck. There could be other explanations, but these are the two that I am familair with. Both had very floppy necks.

When you keep living animals, you will sometimes have dead animals. I'm sorry this happened to you.

 

[dawg53]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry for your loss.