Sudden chicken death, help find cause

[mikeharold]

So our chickens are about 9 months old or so and have been very healthy and no issues thus far. Then tonight suddenly one is dead. They were all fine this morning before I left for work and I only had a quick second to check on them when I came home to grab the eggs before dark. All seemed well then, but I was in a hurry and didn't pay much attention. So my wife notices an opossum on the fence and decides to go and close the coop door(they are in a fully enclosed run) and comes in and says Lola is still out and hunkered down in a corner. Stupid chicken I say! So we go out and grab here and go to put her on the roost and she falls off, ***?Take her inside and shes not breathing heavy, eyes look clear, but will only open one. Then suddenly she jerks, poops a very liquid poop with blood in it, and liquid starts flowing out her mouth then her nostrils and then that's it, she's gone. This all happened in a matter of about 2 minutes.

So I'm looking for any thoughts on this. As I said, they have been very healthy and active. No change in food or anything like that, same stuff they've been getting all along. Seemed fine this morning and no odd behavior until now. Just want to know if I'm facing something that could threaten the rest of the flock(5 others) that needs immediate attention to stop. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[Eggcessive]

Just from your description it sounds as though she were attacked with internal injuries which caused all of the hemorrhages. The possum will be back tomorrow. Sorry for your loss.

 

[cochinator]

Put on some surgical gloves, cut the bird open and do an autopsy. I do this when mine die randomly. You can learn a lot.

 

[mikeharold]

The possum wasn't actuall in the run. It was on the fence and it was already dark. No signs of entry at this time. No visible physical wounds or damage. Need to do more investigation in the morning when it's light again. I hope it was something physical though and not something contagious.

 

[Eggcessive]

Okay I just re-read your first post, and I had thought you had said that there was blood out of the mouth and nose, too. Blood in the stools can be from coccidosis, worms, or from intestinal diseases like necrotizing enteritis. Cocci is most common, and is treated by Corid (amprollium) 1 tsp powder or 2 tsp of liquid per gallon of water for 5 days. Symptoms are lethargy, puffing up, ruffled feathers, poor appetite, diarrhea (sometimes but not always with blood,) and pale skin. I would jsut check everyone out in the morning. Corid won't hurt them, but unless they are new to your ground or someone else is new, they should be immune to cocci by they age now. Opening up the intestines, if you do a necropsy, cocci will be visible as swollenhemmorhagic tissue lining the walls: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/206/coccidiosis

 

[aggiemae]

Sorry. To me a sudden death is sadder that when they are sick.

This happened to one of ours last summer we had a necropsy done. She had an aortic aneurysm. The thing I noticed myself was that her comb was pale almost white. We took her to the ag ex at the health dept and they did it for free, some charge a nominal fee. Google your state or county agricultural extension or information.

You might have noticed lots of threads here end without anyone finding out if the sick or injured chicken recovers or if it dies the reason it did not recover. It is very frustration. If you take the time to get a necropsy you learn what when wrong and find out if it can be prevented from happening to another chickens in you flock and you share what you leaned with others.

You need to refrigerated NOT FREEZE the hen. If you live far from your These are instructions for getting it read to ship on this site. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/799747/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures

 

[casportpony]

@mikeharold , necropsies on chickens, turkeys and waterfowl are free (limit two per day) in CA and they will let you use their FexEx number. This is the lab I use as recommened by my avian vet:

Tulare Laboratory

The Tulare laboratory is located in the facilities of the Veterinary Medical Teaching and Research Center, University of California, Tulare. It provides diagnostic laboratory support for the food animal industries and the veterinarians who serve these industries in the central and southern San Joaquin valley. Services offered on-site include pathology, bacteriology, parasitology, mycology, regulatory serology and certain aspects of virology. The Tulare Laboratory accepts all AVIAN, LIVESTOCK and HORSE submissions.
Serology and toxicology samples are sent, as necessary, to other CAHFS laboratories for testing.

Address
18830 Road 112
Tulare, CA 93274-9042
(559) 688-7543
(559) 686-4231 (FAX)
[email protected]

This is their main webpage:
http://www.cahfs.ucdavis.edu/index.cfm

-Kathy

 

[mikeharold]

Thanks guys. Wish I had gotten your post earlier casportpony, I went ahead and disposed of her already. If I had known that I would have probably done it, but just didn't have the time to figure out where and how to get her looked at. Now I know! I talked to a friend of ours that knows her livestock and said it siounds like a fluke thing with a few possabilities. The rest of the flock is doing just fine so I'm not too concerned right now. I was just trying to get a grasp on what was happenening. Thanks again for everyones input, it did help.