Sudden Hen Death

[LRavis]

About a week ago I posted a thread about a 18mth old leghorn of mine whom I thought was eggbound...she unfortunately passed away.

Now, not even a week later, I have another hen who suddenly passed away as well. They both showed no signs of illness or any symptoms of something off until about 24hrs before they died. They both just became very sleepy and then couldn’t even stand.

I’ve read about Mareks and cocci, but there was no red poop and I believe they were probably too old to succumb to mareks. There are still two hens left in the same coop...they seem ok for now. The only other thing I can think of is possible poisoning. I keep the coop very clean, cleaning it every day. They didn’t have mites, lice, etc. They just finished molting and the one had just started laying again (1egg). The one who just passed tonight was holding it’s wing out a bit.

I’m just so devastated that all of a sudden two of them are gone within in a week with the same symptoms before they died.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Merek's Disease can strike a chicken of any age.

Depending on the strain of Coccidiosis, there may, or may not be blood in the bird's poop.

 

[Isaac 0]

So sorry for your losses. Sadly, making a clinical diagnosis solely based on symptoms prior to death tends to be quite unreliable in most cases. If you still have her body or lose another one(hopefully not) I would suggest sending her to your state veterinary diagnostic lab for a necropsy. In most states the cost is minimal and you will get a much better idea of what's happening contrary to solely basing off of symptoms.

Here are some links,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...sease-testing-state-lab-website-info.1236884/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures.799747/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sorry to hear about your hen.
Do you still have the body? Investigating further is a very good idea.
If you are up to it, you can perform your own informal necropsy at home, post some photos and we may be able to help you with what you see.
Sending the body to your state lab as mentioned is always best if possible.

 

[LRavis]

Thank you all for the insight...the more and more I read I am wondering if it was indeed cocci...I’ve had these particular two hens that died since July, why all of a sudden would this occur? And they both happened like within a week from each other.

To be completely transparent I was thinking our neighbor had poisoned them because I caught him trying to get into our coop about two days after the first one died. And the two hens that died were the friendliest who would come up and eat out of your hand.

Now it seems it could be something I’ve neglected to take care of? All of their poop has looked normal and they all looked normal until one day they just died. Ugh

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you all for the insight...the more and more I read I am wondering if it was indeed cocci...I’ve had these particular two hens that died since July, why all of a sudden would this occur? And they both happened like within a week from each other.

To be completely transparent I was thinking our neighbor had poisoned them because I caught him trying to get into our coop about two days after the first one died. And the two hens that died were the friendliest who would come up and eat out of your hand.

Now it seems it could be something I’ve neglected to take care of? All of their poop has looked normal and they all looked normal until one day they just died. Ugh

18 month old Leghorns - both of them?
Reproductive issues possibly, but unless you necropsy you won't know.

 

[LRavis]

One was a cross and one was a cross of some sort.

 

[LRavis]

I mean one was a leghorn and one was a cross I believe.

 

[Allthefloofs]

We had a hen that suddenly became unable to stand and in the course of 3.5 hours she died. I found her at noon and by 3:30 she had seizures and died at the door to the vet. I had her necropsied and it was a ruptured liver. They said she was overfed and her liver was really fatty and ruptured. Our flock at that time was sort of a free for all, it is kept at a property that houses our homeschool and the kids used to treat them daily, sometimes twice per day, always fruit or vegetables with the very occasional scratch, but they free fed and there were only three of them so I think they just overate with no competition. I had to really overhaul our feeding practices and become "in charge" of the flock so everyone has to check with me if they want to treat the girls.
I am only posting our story because we had two girls die within two weeks, leaving us with one lonely chicken and they were very young, 8 months old. We only had one necropsied because I had no clue how to go about it when the first one died.
I definitely don't want you to think I am suggesting this is your situation, since I don't really know the particulars of your care and routine, just suggesting it as a reason it is good to have a necropsy if possible.
That being said, I am so sorry for your losses. It hurts to love and lose them. I hope you get to the bottom of it and it's an easily fixable issue and that you have no more losses!

 

[LRavis]

We had a hen that suddenly became unable to stand and in the course of 3.5 hours she died. I found her at noon and by 3:30 she had seizures and died at the door to the vet. I had her necropsied and it was a ruptured liver. They said she was overfed and her liver was really fatty and ruptured. Our flock at that time was sort of a free for all, it is kept at a property that houses our homeschool and the kids used to treat them daily, sometimes twice per day, always fruit or vegetables with the very occasional scratch, but they free fed and there were only three of them so I think they just overate with no competition. I had to really overhaul our feeding practices and become "in charge" of the flock so everyone has to check with me if they want to treat the girls.
I am only posting our story because we had two girls die within two weeks, leaving us with one lonely chicken and they were very young, 8 months old. We only had one necropsied because I had no clue how to go about it when the first one died.
I definitely don't want you to think I am suggesting this is your situation, since I don't really know the particulars of your care and routine, just suggesting it as a reason it is good to have a necropsy if possible.
That being said, I am so sorry for your losses. It hurts to love and lose them. I hope you get to the bottom of it and it's an easily fixable issue and that you have no more losses!

We usually feed them in the morning and then again around four, around 7ish I bring them some veggie scraps if I have any from dinner, maybe some scratch, sunflower seeds from the garden, maybe a homemade suet cake (for extra protein with the molt)...does that sound like too much? I will say the flock that had the two deaths didn’t gobble up everything as quick as my other flock who is actually younger.

I got these four hens in July from a place I should have just ran from. But after looking at the conditions I felt like I had to rescue them. I did quarantine them from my other flock and they have never touched but their coops are next to one another. They were just starting to come around too and look so much more healthier.