Official Squatch Watchers

[apryl29]

Ok friends, the short story of the necropsy is I was doing it against the wishes of the family and thus rushed, took exactly 1 photo then abandoned that idea. Not because I don’t wish to document but because I was hurrying since dh was waiting literally on the other side of the kitchen door.
He was already asking if I “was done yet” when I had only just set things up on the little table and remembering how to operate the Tare weight feature on my kitchen scale so I could know how much Margaret weighed (in the box) she was in, because she was stiff and I couldn’t get her body to balance on the small glass circle.
DH took my words “I’ll just take a peek to find out” very seriously and made me promise to close her up afterward “for burial”.
Prior to her death, Margaret-Tate was the top of the pecking order. She was a beautiful bird with a gorgeous bright red comb and glossy iridescent black(green) feathers in the sunshine.
She was the first out of the coop in the morning, last one in at night and called to her flockmates when she decided it was time to retire for the night. She had a voracious appetite and the first to appear at treat time.
I’d seen her in one of the nest boxes with Dolly in the box next to hers prior to her collapse.
It was after Dolly had sung the egg song that dh went out to gather their eggs.
He ran up to the house opened the door and yelled in , “Stace! Help! I think Maggie’s dead!” Then slammed the door.
She was indeed just a step outside the nesting box having not laid her egg.

I was very sorry I didn’t have a helper for the necropsy, or at least more time. It was cold as heck in my garage with poor lighting and no running water. I didn’t think to bring a basin of clean water in for hand rinsing which would have made taking photos a lot more practical. A few water bottles would have some in handy as well.

Also I would have done it sooner ....or later. Because we waited until after DD had left for work a few hours later.

Attempting to perform a necropsy during rigor mortis definitely made the process more difficult.

She weighed
5 pounds 4.8 oz.
I don’t know where that falls on the scale for an Australorp Hen. But when I carry them around the yard, each of my birds are a comfortable arm load.
When I opened her I am ashamed to say, she had an ALARMING amount of firm fat in her lower abdomen, it was nearly an inch thick and rose halfway up her tummy.

*Last night I was searching images online and came upon a blog post titled sudden death of a hen on a site called www.hencam.com.
The photo of the fat in the abdomen of that hen looked exactly like mine did.

Later I discovered that this same bright yellow fat also encircled the top one third of margarets heart and globs of it were elsewhere.

She had a fully formed normal sized egg just a few inches from her vent. And lots of varied sized yolks beyond.

Her gizzard was full of grit, oystershell bits and other organic material in the process of breaking down and appeared normal.

There were no worms to be seen in her intestines. No parasites on her body.
Her feet and legs were in excellent condition. Her mouth and throat looked normal.

A large flat clot approx 4 inches long by 2 inches wide was sort of “stuck” to the outside of her liver which was not firm at all like the kind you eat, but quite soft and mushy and fell apart imstantly when I handled it.

The eat an all flock with oyster shell and grit on the side. Free range for bugs and other goodies in the yard and get an ample supplement of herbs which I grow year round.

Dh adores giving them treats (mealworms and the occasional handful of scratch grains) after work and says it’s better for stress decompression than coming home to an adult beverage.

I suppose I need to examine whether to allow them treats at all, since now I’m worried that my whole flock is doomed to die from what I’m sure is fatty liver disease, but I know that would rob DH of his enjoyment of spending time with them after work.

Final impression almost certainly:

Margaret-Tate bled from the liver while attempting to lay her egg. Perhaps she had some pain and left the nesting box but never got farther than a step or two.

Wow, So sorry to hear about your girl too. This (and stories like it) always make me worry about my birds. More incentive to cut back on treats, but try explaining that to the birds.

 

[CSAchook]

1, 2, skip a few hundred...

@FlyingNunFarm Sorry to hear about your bird. Are the others doing well?

How are all the babies doing? Cappy, how are your buns?
(I wish there was a way to see just the photos from a thread).

I saw @KikisGirls balut situation.. really interesting & gross at the same time. Have you noticed any movement? I didn't read through the 63 pages of your thread. Did you check the sign by the quail eggs to see if they're sold the same way?

I went to TSC this weekend to get feed and they had buckets full of the cutest baby chicks and ducks. They also had some marked down to $1! I didn't get any, but they sure were adorable. I bought a bag of grit and PDZ while I was there and as I was looking for somewhere to stash the PDZ I happened upon a 1/2 full bag of grit behind a bale of straw. SMH.. of course I'd already opened the new bag of grit.
How do you all serve grit? I was thinking of tossing a pile in the corner of the run instead of having to keep filling their bowl. Not the whole bag, but a few cups of it.

I think the quail eggs were safe (unincubated) But the store had chicken and duck ballot eggs . Kiki’s homemade incubator is working though. Those two babies are wiggly!

I have large parrot dishes that I hook to the wall of the run for grit and oyster shell

 

[CSAchook]

@staceyj
You did the right thing. Forewarned is forearmed

 

[apryl29]

I think the quail eggs were safe (unincubated) But the store had chicken and duck ballot eggs . Kiki’s homemade incubator is working though. Those two babies are wiggly!

I have large parrot dishes that I hook to the wall of the run for grit and oyster shell

Good idea! I currently have a cat food dish w/ 2 sections that's raised up a bit, but they keep kicking crap into it... I don't want it too high b/c I have bantams and they need to get to it.. I like Cappy's feeder design, but I'm not very buildery and I won't be attempting that for a while.

 

[CSAchook]

Good idea! I currently have a cat food dish w/ 2 sections that's raised up a bit, but they keep kicking crap into it... I don't want it too high b/c I have bantams and they need to get to it.. I like Cappy's feeder design, but I'm not very buildery and I won't be attempting that for a while.

Attaching a container to the wall atchicken head height seems to really help keep them from getting gunk in the dish. If you don’t want to buy parrot dishes or need something bigger, you could probably poke a couple holes in a plastic Tupperware dish and zip tie it the run wall (assuming the run is some sort of wire mesh)

 

[21hens-incharge]

Good idea! I currently have a cat food dish w/ 2 sections that's raised up a bit, but they keep kicking crap into it... I don't want it too high b/c I have bantams and they need to get to it.. I like Cappy's feeder design, but I'm not very buildery and I won't be attempting that for a while.

I use a rabbit feeder in my big coop and a coffee can that I cut a section out of then screwed to the wall in the other coop.
Plastic coffee can of course.

They both work BUT the coffee can gets less kicked into it.

 

[staceyj]

Wow, So sorry to hear about your girl too. This (and stories like it) always make me worry about my birds. More incentive to cut back on treats, but try explaining that to the birds.

Exactly.
Also since were in a “neighborhood” the chickens have trained US to come outside and give them bribes to be more quiet.

Also of note today, or more of a question I suppose....

They are being EXTREMELY noisy today and keep milling about between the run and the open yard beyond.

I’m sure (maybe) that I’m reading something into this that may not be there, but it’s almost as if they are looking for her.

Even when I opened the pop door this morning there was a lot of hesitation to them coming out since normally Margaret would stick her head and shoulders under the door and push it up with her body in her excitement to come out, followed by the rest of them....

Many seconds went by this morning and a lot of bickering noises from inside before Dolly finally emerged.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Exactly.
Also since were in a “neighborhood” the chickens have trained US to come outside and give them bribes to be more quiet.

Also of note today, or more of a question I suppose....

They are being EXTREMELY noisy today and keep milling about between the run and the open yard beyond.

I’m sure (maybe) that I’m reading something into this that may not be there, but it’s almost as if they are looking for her.

Even when I opened the pop door this morning there was a lot of hesitation to them coming out since normally Margaret would stick her head and shoulders under the door and push it up with her body in her excitement to come out, followed by the rest of them....

Many seconds went by this morning and a lot of bickering noises from inside before Dolly finally emerged.

A few years ago I lost a high ranking hen. Mine were acting off much like yours are doing.

It was sad to see all the confusion going on. They did return to normal after a few days.



They are very good at training us to come running.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

Exactly.
Also since were in a “neighborhood” the chickens have trained US to come outside and give them bribes to be more quiet.

Also of note today, or more of a question I suppose....

They are being EXTREMELY noisy today and keep milling about between the run and the open yard beyond.

I’m sure (maybe) that I’m reading something into this that may not be there, but it’s almost as if they are looking for her.

Even when I opened the pop door this morning there was a lot of hesitation to them coming out since normally Margaret would stick her head and shoulders under the door and push it up with her body in her excitement to come out, followed by the rest of them....

Many seconds went by this morning and a lot of bickering noises from inside before Dolly finally emerged.

A shift in ranking. There will be a bit of squabbling until the rank and order falls back into place without her.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Ok friends, the short story of the necropsy is I was doing it against the wishes of the family and thus rushed, took exactly 1 photo then abandoned that idea. Not because I don’t wish to document but because I was hurrying since dh was waiting literally on the other side of the kitchen door.
He was already asking if I “was done yet” when I had only just set things up on the little table and remembering how to operate the Tare weight feature on my kitchen scale so I could know how much Margaret weighed (in the box) she was in, because she was stiff and I couldn’t get her body to balance on the small glass circle.
DH took my words “I’ll just take a peek to find out” very seriously and made me promise to close her up afterward “for burial”.
Prior to her death, Margaret-Tate was the top of the pecking order. She was a beautiful bird with a gorgeous bright red comb and glossy iridescent black(green) feathers in the sunshine.
She was the first out of the coop in the morning, last one in at night and called to her flockmates when she decided it was time to retire for the night. She had a voracious appetite and the first to appear at treat time.
I’d seen her in one of the nest boxes with Dolly in the box next to hers prior to her collapse.
It was after Dolly had sung the egg song that dh went out to gather their eggs.
He ran up to the house opened the door and yelled in , “Stace! Help! I think Maggie’s dead!” Then slammed the door.
She was indeed just a step outside the nesting box having not laid her egg.

I was very sorry I didn’t have a helper for the necropsy, or at least more time. It was cold as heck in my garage with poor lighting and no running water. I didn’t think to bring a basin of clean water in for hand rinsing which would have made taking photos a lot more practical. A few water bottles would have some in handy as well.

Also I would have done it sooner ....or later. Because we waited until after DD had left for work a few hours later.

Attempting to perform a necropsy during rigor mortis definitely made the process more difficult.

She weighed
5 pounds 4.8 oz.
I don’t know where that falls on the scale for an Australorp Hen. But when I carry them around the yard, each of my birds are a comfortable arm load.
When I opened her I am ashamed to say, she had an ALARMING amount of firm fat in her lower abdomen, it was nearly an inch thick and rose halfway up her tummy.

*Last night I was searching images online and came upon a blog post titled sudden death of a hen on a site called www.hencam.com.
The photo of the fat in the abdomen of that hen looked exactly like mine did.

Later I discovered that this same bright yellow fat also encircled the top one third of margarets heart and globs of it

She had a fully formed normal sized egg just a few inches from her vent. And lots of varied sized yolks beyond.

Her gizzard was full of grit, oystershell bits and other organic material in the process of breaking down and appeared normal.

There were no worms to be seen in her intestines. No parasites on her body.
Her feet and legs were in excellent condition. Her mouth and throat looked normal.

A large flat clot approx 4 inches long by 2 inches wide was sort of “stuck” to the outside of her liver which was not firm at all like the kind you eat, but quite soft and mushy and fell apart imstantly when I handled it.

The eat an all flock with oyster shell and grit on the side. Free range for bugs and other goodies in the yard and get an ample supplement of herbs which I grow year round.

Dh adores giving them treats (mealworms and the occasional handful of scratch grains) after work and says it’s better for stress decompression than coming home to an adult beverage.

I suppose I need to examine whether to allow them treats at all, since now I’m worried that my whole flock is doomed to die from what I’m sure is fatty liver disease, but I know that would rob DH of his enjoyment of spending time with them after work.

Final impression almost certainly:

Margaret-Tate bled from the liver while attempting to lay her egg. Perhaps she had some pain and left the nesting box but never got farther than a step or two.

Terrible for you, brave girl to do it. Sometimes we forget how small chickens are and overdo what a treat consists of. Easy to do.