I have lost three chickens since Sunday. My husband and I are scratching our heads as to what is going on. All three seemed to have such different symptoms and progressions that we are wondering if we should be worried about whether this is a flock-wide illness or not. Here is the info on the three hens' progressions. Does anyone have any input here? Does anyone see similarities that I am missing?
Loss #1 - 16 month old EE, good layer. Had legs set wide apart and seemed almost bow-legged. Weekend of 13th/14th she was NQR and so we moved her out of the coop and into a secure crate we use for sick or injured hens. She seemed to do well through the week and we decided to move her back out to the coop on Saturday (the 20th). When she got out that day it was obvious that she was not OK. She could not stand on her own and when another hen came past too close she would just fall over. She ate a little grass, but I did not see her poo much and all of it was mostly watery. Saturday evening she was worse and seemed to be declining. We gave her some vitamins and hoped for the best. Sunday morning she passed. Her abdomen was discolored and distended, but hard (not mushy like the hen we had once who was eggbound). Her feet and legs appeared to had atrophied during the course of the week. The last day when she was not set directly on her feet, her legs would go in different directions (one front, the other back) as she fell. That concerned me, but it seemed to be more of a tendency if she was not balanced as they would not do that every time she fell. I think she did not have much control over her legs at all that last day especially. In retrospect, I wonder if her bow-leggedness was in part due to an ever-increasing abdomen? Until it got bad enough that she could not operate? I'm just not sure.
Loss #2 - 16 month old RSL, excellent layer but recent eggs have had funky (but still OK) shells. She was in a group of hens that I got after on Saturday (the 20th) for cornering and pecking another hen and I noticed that after the hubbub she was limping on her right leg. Checked her over and she had no obvious injuries that we could actually treat. She was better on Sunday and was putting weight on the leg. Monday night she was even better and so we gave her some vitamins and I watched her eat and poo. She was bright, alert, red in the comb and wattles, and VERY excited for treats. Yesterday (Tuesday the 23rd) I came home from work and she was dead. According to my father-in-law, who lets them out in the mornings, everyone was OK when he let them out. I inspected her and she seemed to have no evidence on her skin of bruising, discoloration or anything. She had some nasal discharge, but I could not tell if it was pre- or postmortem.
Loss #3 - 16 month old SS, OK layer of smallish eggs, no previous signs of trouble. She was hanging out next to the deceased RSL and I noticed that her comb was awful pale and she was not alert or bright-eyed. Her comb was pale and her crop seemed to have only liquid in it. Her skin looked kind of yellow-ish (more so than usual as SS have white-ish skin). I separated her and started pulling water fountains to sanitize them before doing the entire coop. While I was cleaning one of the fountains, she died.
I vigorously cleaned out the coop while keeping all the hens out. The coop should probably have been cleaned last week or the week prior as a matter of course, but we have just been so busy we have been pushing it off. I sprayed sanitizer on all surfaces and most of the walls where they would reach after the old bedding was gone. One hen was not interested in the new straw and so I separated her JUST IN CASE. When my husband checked on her at 0230 hrs this morning, she was OK and her comb was still red and she was perky (albeit sleepy and grumpy at the disturbance). I think she may just have a bit of sour crop, but I was taking no chances.
So is there anything I am missing here that you all can see? It is entirely possible that these are all fluke deaths, but three in as many days kind of has me freaked out.
Loss #1 - 16 month old EE, good layer. Had legs set wide apart and seemed almost bow-legged. Weekend of 13th/14th she was NQR and so we moved her out of the coop and into a secure crate we use for sick or injured hens. She seemed to do well through the week and we decided to move her back out to the coop on Saturday (the 20th). When she got out that day it was obvious that she was not OK. She could not stand on her own and when another hen came past too close she would just fall over. She ate a little grass, but I did not see her poo much and all of it was mostly watery. Saturday evening she was worse and seemed to be declining. We gave her some vitamins and hoped for the best. Sunday morning she passed. Her abdomen was discolored and distended, but hard (not mushy like the hen we had once who was eggbound). Her feet and legs appeared to had atrophied during the course of the week. The last day when she was not set directly on her feet, her legs would go in different directions (one front, the other back) as she fell. That concerned me, but it seemed to be more of a tendency if she was not balanced as they would not do that every time she fell. I think she did not have much control over her legs at all that last day especially. In retrospect, I wonder if her bow-leggedness was in part due to an ever-increasing abdomen? Until it got bad enough that she could not operate? I'm just not sure.
Loss #2 - 16 month old RSL, excellent layer but recent eggs have had funky (but still OK) shells. She was in a group of hens that I got after on Saturday (the 20th) for cornering and pecking another hen and I noticed that after the hubbub she was limping on her right leg. Checked her over and she had no obvious injuries that we could actually treat. She was better on Sunday and was putting weight on the leg. Monday night she was even better and so we gave her some vitamins and I watched her eat and poo. She was bright, alert, red in the comb and wattles, and VERY excited for treats. Yesterday (Tuesday the 23rd) I came home from work and she was dead. According to my father-in-law, who lets them out in the mornings, everyone was OK when he let them out. I inspected her and she seemed to have no evidence on her skin of bruising, discoloration or anything. She had some nasal discharge, but I could not tell if it was pre- or postmortem.
Loss #3 - 16 month old SS, OK layer of smallish eggs, no previous signs of trouble. She was hanging out next to the deceased RSL and I noticed that her comb was awful pale and she was not alert or bright-eyed. Her comb was pale and her crop seemed to have only liquid in it. Her skin looked kind of yellow-ish (more so than usual as SS have white-ish skin). I separated her and started pulling water fountains to sanitize them before doing the entire coop. While I was cleaning one of the fountains, she died.
I vigorously cleaned out the coop while keeping all the hens out. The coop should probably have been cleaned last week or the week prior as a matter of course, but we have just been so busy we have been pushing it off. I sprayed sanitizer on all surfaces and most of the walls where they would reach after the old bedding was gone. One hen was not interested in the new straw and so I separated her JUST IN CASE. When my husband checked on her at 0230 hrs this morning, she was OK and her comb was still red and she was perky (albeit sleepy and grumpy at the disturbance). I think she may just have a bit of sour crop, but I was taking no chances.
So is there anything I am missing here that you all can see? It is entirely possible that these are all fluke deaths, but three in as many days kind of has me freaked out.
