Not an emergency, because hen died last night

[Archer]

but hoping someone can give me some insight. We have owned chicks for just 5 months. got them as day olds. they were all doing fine and then yesterday one of the red stars got very lethargic, just lay in my arms, and seemed to be breathing very shallow. couldn't see anything going on. pooped a little yellow poop. she just lay for hours until she died. we are very new to this and heartbroken. does anyone have any ideas? we did separate her from the others as soon as we noticed she was sick...........thanks for any help.

 

[GreenGoddess]

Quote:
Hmm.. First thing that comes to my mind is broken egg or liver failure.. What kind of feed do you have them on? Have they been laying yet? How long have you been giving them layer feed or calcium? Did the poop look like it was yolk or poop?

Goddess

 

[terrilhb]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[RedRoosterFarm]

so sorry. By chance did she get ahold of bad feed? moldy? rat posion?
Quote:

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
Sorry I don't have any experience w/ this, but I wanted to say

 

[Archer]

we have them on grower layer feed - little pellets - sorry, i don't even know the name of it. we keep it pretty fresh. they have been on that for about a month. they just started laying about 2 weeks ago, but we have 6 other chicks, so i'm not even sure who is laying! the poop was loose, almost a sunshine yellow. we have no posions around, so she couldn't have gotten a hold of anything like that. what would cause liver failure?

 

[tinychicky]

unfortunatly sometimes these things just happen. i'm very sorry for your loss

 

[jjthink]

Sadly, with symptoms that severe, veterinary attention to urgently get to the root of the problem may have been the only way to save her....
JJ

 

[Lesa]

Sounds like egg bound to me... anytime you see something bright yellow (think yolk) or foamy (think whites), it is probably an egg issue... You might want to do a little reading- tons of info on here, on the subject. I have lost two chickens to it- not too much you can do... Sorry for your loss....

 

[Archer]

thanks for the info. i had never even heard of egg bound. i will definately do more reading. this is a great resource!