New to Chickens and Need Help! May be a Little Graphic!

[Idahochic]

Hello, this is a little update from one of my other threads since my chickens symptoms changed. I'm very new to raising chickens for 4-H and i just started my flock. I went to an auction and bought a Wyandotte hen who i thing is about a year to two years old. When i brought her home, her nails were about 2 inches long and she was in pretty bad shape. I found out she had bad lice, very malnourished (her breast bone sticks about about an inch and a half), i think she has scaly leg mites, diarreah on and off, she had peeling rotting skin, and she is very tired all the time. Anyways, it's been a few weeks since i purchased her. when i brought her home she would walk around and graze but then one night i came home and she was laying on her side and i thought she wasn't going to make it through the night. She did though, and the next morning i brought her inside (it gets hot where i live and to seperate her from the flock) and have made a little open-sided box/nest for her. For the lice i have been dusting her and they are almost completely cleared up, the leg mites ive treated for about 3 days soaking them in canola oil and then coating them with petrolleum jelly, the rotting/peeling skin around the vent area I have been treating with iodine and it has healed over and the dead skin is flaking off with healthy skin underneath with new feather buds appearing, and because she is super malnourished i have been feeding her 1-2 boiled egg yolks and a spoon full of yogurt every day along with grit, regular food, and electrolyte supplement in her water. Her diarreha is on and off and instead of laying on her side she is sitting up but not walking or standing anymore. Her toes are always curled up into a "fist" and she doesnt like to streighten them. The last abnormal thing she has is what appears to be a swollen abdomen under and around her vent with buldging veins, but this might just appear that way beause the rest of her is so skinny and her bottom is bare. And she is upposed to be laying but she hasn't layed since i got her. I've posted some pictures too to help better understand what i'm talking about, and any advice you could give me on if i should change what im doing or what else i should do would be great!


3 days ago: treating her feet in the canola oil


3 days ago: washign her bottom and adding iodine (look at the feather shafts, there are eggs and dead skin)
Note: The iodine is what is making her so red!


3 Days ago: I tried to get a close up of her feet but this is the best i could get!


3 days ago: Before she was treaed and how i found her


3 Days ago: Close up on her legs


3 days ago: bottom without iodine and just washed (look at the dark red skab from where she's been laying)


3 days ago: Her abdomen looks pretty purple and swollen to me...


Today: shes been looking and acting healthier, sitting up right, and not needing support


Today: She lays with her legs spread apart


Today: a close up of her foot, i think they are beinning to heal but are still making "fists"


I didnt get any pictures of her abdomen or vent for today but it's looking more light pink that purple, is budding a few feathers, and the dead skind and lice eggs are coming off. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[pichuris]

Although I don't have any tips I'm hoping someone else can help out. I think what you have done is awesome. You can tell from first pics to the next the difference your love and care has provided for her.

 

[Idahochic]

Thank you so much for your concern, but im sorry to say she passed away a few hours ago. I was treating her on her while she was laying on her back and she had a heart attack. It was so heartbreaking to see her die right in front of me but because i didn't have answers i decided to giver her an autopsy. I know this may very graphic, but i found out the people that sold her at the auction took her there because she had egg yolk peritonitis. I think you and other people should see this because its good to know what diseases internally look like. I did an autopsy and this is what i found... I'm estimating about a year's worth of egg yolk build up...



This is what she looked like when i very fist opened her up...


This egg yolk was completely seperate from the organs and was making them press against the heart...


We decided to cut it open and found the origional egg with layer and layers of yolk around it


A close up of the origional egg and the layers around it

Even though im very sad about her death, there was no hope for her. I'm just upset at how many problems and horrible things she had when she came to me. I hope this is a good exampe to show people to always care for their chickens and not raise them like commercial ones. Thanks for reading!

 

[realsis]

thank you for sharing this. I'm so sorry for your loss!

 

[Moosetails]

Thank you for showing these pictures. They explain a lot. One of my 8 month old Australorp's died last night and I think she had the same issue. I think this is called "egg bound". (Others may correct me.) I wanted to do an autopsy, but I don't have time until the weekend and my DH put his foot down and said no dead chickens in the fridge.

I was beginning to worry because she wasn't laying eggs. I notice on my lunch break that she was not feeling well, so when I came home from work, I brought her in and tried to make her comfortable. There was a big ruckus in the coop, so I left her to see what was going on. When I came back, she was dead.

Is there any preventative measures that I can take with my other chickens? I have an 8 month old Java that hasn't started laying yet. I don't want this to happen again.

 

[pichuris]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I think you have been the teacher here. Thank you for sharing with us. Thank you giving her a wonderful last few days. At least she was cared for... really cared for.

 

[Idahochic]

Thank you all so much for your kind comments! I want to do something in agriculture when i get older and so this really was a great learning experience! I don't know how you could prevent this in other chickens... but I do know that this is very common in commercial and heavy-egg laying birds. I might be wrong but i think what happens is the chickend becomes "egg bound" but is still able to survive, poop, and acts nomal. But i think the egg blocks the step where the shell is formed and so the white and yolk get cooked in her abdomen. (When we opened her up there were also layers of egg white surrounding the outside of the body cavity) I might be wrong, but i think that is how the process works and the only way to prevent it is to keep an eye on your chickens, once your chicken is "egg bound" make sure to do everything you can to make it unstuck. Hope this helps!