Seizure like death?

[Mapes]

Hey folks I'm new to the forum. One of my co-workers pointed me this direction. I have a flock of seven well, now six, various breeds. This one in particular was a cream leg bar that was 8 months old. She just started laying I would say maybe a month or two ago. She was acting totally fine up until today. We noticed she was very lethargic, we could roll her over she wouldn't stand up etc.

She then stood up and flapped her wings and kind of had almost like a seizure I would say. She was flapping her wings and her neck creaked really far over like she was trying to snap her own neck. She has some clear fluid coming out of her mouth but then had some blood come out of her mouth and then she just died. This all took place in the span of about 10 minutes. It was very sudden from when we noticed she was not moving.

She was acting normal she was laying normal I don't think she was egg-bound. Any ideas what can cause this? I don't know if I need to be worried about my other hens. We feed them a standard laying feed and provide grit they can eat whenever they want. We do give them some clippings from our garden and things like that but nothing that should be poisonous we did quite a bit of research to make sure we weren't giving them anything bad. Anyone ever seen this kind of death before? Thanks.

 

[Kiki]

What state are you in?
The only way to get a real answer is to over night her to your state lab.
Some states only charge 20 or $25 for a necropsy.
If you tell me what state you're in, I'll give you a direct link to your state lab.

 

[Rose Quartz]

The seizure and drooling and blood could all just be her in the process of dying. Lethargy says there was something else wrong with her, but hard to say what.

It sounds like they're not free ranged. If that's the case then she probably didnt get into anything on her own.

Do you have a rooster? Not to blame him if you do, but the only hen I've had up and die while I was near her had her neck broken when my larger roo tried to mount her.

For any sicknesses you'd really have to have her tested at a lab if you still have her body.

$25 sounds really cheap to me for a test, it's around $80CAD

 

[Kiki]

The seizure and drooling and blood could all just be her in the process of dying. Lethargy says there was something else wrong with her, but hard to say what.

It sounds like they're not free ranged. If that's the case then she probably didnt get into anything on her own.

Do you have a rooster? Not to blame him if you do, but the only hen I've had up and die while I was near her had her neck broken when my larger roo tried to mount her.

For any sicknesses you'd really have to have her tested at a lab if you still have her body.

$25 sounds really cheap to me for a test, it's around $80CAD

It's 25 in California...some state labs actually do it free too. Some labs cost 200. It all depends on which state you're in and if you're in an expensive state, it could be cheaper to overnight it to California.

 

[Mapes]

Thanks for the replies. They aren't free-ranged. We are in Idaho. And we don't have any roosters. Yeah the lethargy might be sort of the key maybe she was egg bound or something else was wrong.

 

[Kiki]

Thanks for the replies. They aren't free-ranged. We are in Idaho. And we don't have any roosters. Yeah the lethargy might be sort of the key maybe she was egg bound or something else was wrong.

What were you feeding?
Fatty liver disease kills quickly.

Here ya go:
https://agri.idaho.gov/main/laboratories/animal-health-laboratories/

 

[Mapes]

It's a layer feed from a local mill here. Has the standard ratios. We do give them some garden scraps, trimmed leaves from pumpkin crops as an example, some ears of corn, occasional watermelon, cantaloupe. No citrus... Thanks for the link!