[non-emergency] - Fatty Liver Syndrome

[breyns]

Hi. I am new here and hoping someone can help. Last night, one of my beautiful BOs died. A necropsy today revealed she died of fatty liver syndrome. Basically, she had fatty deposits on her liver and abdomen, her liver ruptured and she bled out into her abdomen. The woman at the lab told me that she was an obese chicken and that is what caused it. I just thought that BOs were big birds and never gave her size a thought. My remaining flock of 5 is getting 16% layer pellets mixed with 18% whole grain feed that contains fish meal as the protein source. They free-range in the yard all day and I keep their feed inside the coop so, they have to go out of their way to get it. Early in the fall I was giving them kitchen scraps daily but I have since stopped that unless it is greens or meat - no starch. I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this disease and I'm also wondering if I should ration their feed and how to do that. And will they lose weight if I do so? I just didn't know that they weren't self regulating on the feed. I have another BO that is just as big and also a huge BR. I am worried that this will happen again. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[purpletree23]

This is new to me. I hope others can help and we all can learn.

Sorry you lost your buff.

 

[Wifezilla]

It happens not just to chickens, but to cats, dogs, people...

The cause is usually a high carbohydrate diet. You already seem to be on that. The fish meal protein sounds good, but how much corn or soy are they getting?

 

[crazyhen]

Fatty liver in people can also be caused by viruses. I wonder if your hen had a problem earlier and it added to the problem of wt. Gloria Jean

 

[breyns]

They do get a little corn in the whole grain feed. And I suspect the protein source in the pellets is soy. It's Rogue organic layer pellets. They don't get any extra scratch or anything like that since I stopped with the treats. If I ration their feed, I just don't know how much they really need to be healthy and when do I give it to them?

 

[GardeNerd]

I am so sorry to hear of your loss.

I wish I could offer advice, but I don't have experience with Hepatic Lipidosis in chickens, just cats.


I know it isn't much help, but we call our cat our Blue Orpington. She has the sweet disposition and shape of an Orpington. I guess they have similar health issues, too. My cat, Gracie, was diagnosed with something similar, Feline Hepatic Lipidosis, about a month after we adopted her from the SPCA. She almost died and was hospitalized for 5 days. They eventually sent her home to die since I was not ready to euthanize her just yet. It has been two and a half years and we still have her.

The cat now gets a special cat food made mainly of duck and peas. We strictly ration her food, but she still manages to be fat. Unfortunately she finds all sorts of stuff outside to eat. I have caught her eating the chicken feed, digging grubs out of the compost, an alligator lizard, snails, all the typical cat prey, and really pretty much anything.

With the cat we were told to limit her stress.

 

[seminolewind]

I think that orps are prone to get that. I would be a super failure at putting a chicken on a diet. I know mine stay pretty trim with free-ranging and having their food pot in the coop. Hopefully your others will be okay. It's good that you found out what it was that shortened her life. Sorry

 

[chookchick]

That is very interesting, thanks for sharing the info you have found and I'm sorry about your hen!
Quote:
I'm wondering about this as I feed partly a whole grain diet. Is the fish meal a powder? Is it possible that they are picking out the grains for the most part and leaving the pellets and fish meal? I feed the whole grain portion in limited amounts as I am worried about their endless appetite for these. I also quit giving them bread or rice for the same reasons.

 

[Wifezilla]

I wouldn't try to necessarily restrict their feed, maybe just up their fresh greens. Throw them a cabbage, a zucchini, or something else like that on a regular basis.

 

[breyns]

Quote:
This actually does help me. It shows me that despite my best efforts, maybe she was just fat and the other one is just fat too - that maybe the breed is indeed just prone to being big and having this disease. I am looking into changing to a more low energy feed and I also heard that supplemental fat to replace some of the carbs may be benefical. Although I did it today, I don't feel quite right about rationing their feed, especially since the smaller ones may be needing more. I offer them plenty of exercise and the full run of the yard. If I make these small changes, then maybe that is all I can do.

I appreciate everyone's advice and kind words. Thank you very much.