Sudden death of 1 - flock seems ill.

[eyezalive]

Rut roh shaggy, seems we have a problem. Flock of 9 hens raised from day 1 - about 8 months old at this point. All organic laying mash and occasional table scraps compliment their backyard foraging. All was going well - lots of eggs, active hens, healthy appetites, etc. A couple weeks ago a rhode island red was noticed to have a bulging crop. The bulge is soft like a water balloon which leads me to believe it is not impacted but rather "sour" - maybe a fungal infection. Vomiting was induced a couple times and yogurt was fed to her in small amounts a couple times/day. A couple cloves of garlic introduced to water as well. Yogurt for beneficial bacteria and garlic as anti-fungal.

Her droppings seem normal and she seems relatively active. The last couple days she has been crooking her neck in all sorts of strange ways and the crop still bulges.

But then I return home today to find a silver laced wyandotte dead in the coop. No previous signs of ailment prior to today.

Needless to say, I'm worried about the rest of the flock. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but I'm starting to overanalyze all the hens' crops - some look a little larger than normal.

Planning on performing postmortem examination per angelfire.com instructions.

I'd appreciate any feedback that you have. Thanks in advance.

 

[dlhunicorn]

It might be soemthing in the feed (no matter how careful you are mycotoxins can often become a problem and IMHO a greater danger with organic feed) ..... try getting a new sack of feed (be sure to smell it and examine the contents for an off or moldy smell or excessive fines) and see if that does not help.

 

[sammi]

might be a good idea to check their mouths and throats for any whitish or yellowish plaque, or sores.

feel the crops for any lumps.

Nystatin, or Nilstat..could be used to treat sour crop.

if you see white or yellow sores, it could be canker.(can cause sour crop)
treat with Flagyl, or Spartrix...
both available from foys pigeon supply..(nystatin sold as Medistat)
you can also get the canker med from a pet store or aquarium shop..

I agree with dlhunicorn about checking the feed.

if fungal infection is from grain..not sure if the Nystatin will help.

 

[raindrop]

I think a necropsy might be most helpful. Please post results and pictures if you need help with what is "normal" or not.

 

[eyezalive]

performed necropsy of wyandotte who had suddenly died. all went well. couple things of note: the crop was rather empty - filled with liquid at time of opening, but only a small amount of feed, and a few strands of straw. no sores in mouth. the intestines were filled with a dark greenish thick liquid. gizzard had what i thought to be a lot of small shards of glass. where those came from, i don't have a clue. also, there were a lot os small ovary pouches - maybe 3 or 4 with yellow yolk and another 5 or 6 smaller sacs. all organs looked healthy. i did notice that before opening the sack that all intestines, gizzard, ovaries, etc are in, it had a yellowish color - maybe an egg broke inside?

the rest of the ladies are still hanging in there.

i appreciate your thoughts.

 

[dlhunicorn]

...a wild guess (your comment on the glass shards) >>>gizzard impaction?
In usch as this I would send off to the state for a necropsy...they can diagnose and do further histopathological tests that you cannot... who knows...perhaps the glass shard were in feed?
Have a good look round your property...change the feed (get new bag) and clean out everything and see if that helps?