The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

very strange, Mumsy, I've never heard of anything like this either. Thank you for taking the time to share the pics and your thoughts, this has been a very interesting discussion.

 

[Mumsy]

very strange, Mumsy, I've never heard of anything like this either. Thank you for taking the time to share the pics and your thoughts, this has been a very interesting discussion.

Thank you. It's been a terrible day all around. It's starting to finally hit me. I. Hate. Doing. Necropsy. There are so many ways chickens can die. It seems like all the weird ways are happening in my flock. Time for a good cry.

 

[Leahs Mom]

 

[Quailsong]

Thank you again for more pictures, Mumsy. Although I've buried pet or wild birds before, I've never picked through a bird internally - save for when I'm prepping an already cleaned bird to cook. I can say, to me, everything about that bird looked healthy. Nothing really looked red/swollen, although I could clearly see those air pockets/bubbles.

I know I may open up a can of worms here, but I'll do it anyways. You said the bird had a crop full of fermented feed & basically gorged himself before the issue occurred.

Do you think it's possible the fermenting feed was causing bubbling/gas & it couldn't escape properly. Anyone whose ever fermented grains at home (and/or for their birds) knows that even a small tub can start bubbling on its own like an open bottle of soda.

I believe chickens can burp & do pass gas, which would normally relieve some of that pressure, but if there was a small cut in the esophagus the gas could have vented internally much faster than normal breathing pushing inwards.

Just a thought. Not saying FF is the culprit, but rather it possibly pushed a bad situation (possible internal cut) over the edge.

Did you look more through the feed/tract, for anything that might look like a bit of metal or glass? Even a small bit of something like that could cut a throat pretty good.

To add: Mumsy, I wish I could give you better words like "Hang in there". Sometimes crazy stuff just happens, and it sucks terribly when it seems to happen all at once to us. But at the very least, if you ever see something similar, you can put down a suffering chicken much faster or treat if possible. I hope though for you, that it is the last of your chicken problems for a gooooood long while.

 

[midnightroo]

Mumsy, I agree I hope this is the last of your problems for a while. I never would have believed something like that could happen in a chicken. Now if I ever happen to see it, I know what to do immediately.

Delisha, I did finally seperate her today, but I don't think if I hadnt kept massaging her with my daughter giving her oil she would be what appears at this time doing better. I could feel her crop blowing up every time I stopped massaging. I was very worried at one point we had gotten oil down her throat, but when I left the house my husband had out her out in a large dog crate in the carport and she had eaten some yogurt and a stray stink bug that happened to fall in the crate. She is feisty again and tried to eat my husband's finger when he put it in the crate. I offered the coconut oil to her before i left and she didn't seem interested in it. At this point if she ballons up again I will cull. What ever she had/has in her crop that was making her balloon up so quickly isn't going to resolve itself and I am not sure what else I could do for her. I just need to decide if I should keep her seperated or to put her back with the others after dark.

Thanks again everyone for your help and your patience.

 

[Mumsy]

Thank you again for more pictures, Mumsy. Although I've buried pet or wild birds before, I've never picked through a bird internally - save for when I'm prepping an already cleaned bird to cook. I can say, to me, everything about that bird looked healthy. Nothing really looked red/swollen, although I could clearly see those air pockets/bubbles.


Since I was a very young girl, I've had a curious mind. Raised on a working cattle farm and family of hunters. I was the little girl trying to get a closer look at the butchering process. If I was going to eat it, I wanted to know where it came from and what it looked like before it went into the pot. The key to doing a necropsy of any animal is to know what it looks like healthy. When we know what a healthy body looks like, we more easily can identify unhealthy.

I know I may open up a can of worms here, but I'll do it anyways. You said the bird had a crop full of fermented feed & basically gorged himself before the issue occurred.

Do you think it's possible the fermenting feed was causing bubbling/gas & it couldn't escape properly. Anyone whose ever fermented grains at home (and/or for their birds) knows that even a small tub can start bubbling on its own like an open bottle of soda.

Nope. I have a firm and solid belief that my fermented feed is awesome. I have sixty five surviving birds in beautiful condition, fertility, and health to prove it.

I believe chickens can burp & do pass gas, which would normally relieve some of that pressure, but if there was a small cut in the esophagus the gas could have vented internally much faster than normal breathing pushing inwards.

Just a thought. Not saying FF is the culprit, but rather it possibly pushed a bad situation (possible internal cut) over the edge.

Something inside this bird ruptured, was pierced, or otherwise broke to allow the air it was breathing to blow it up like a balloon. I couldn't see it with my eyes but my gut instincts tell me this bird was perfectly healthy and then something went horribly haywire.

I do not believe it was what this bird ate. I believe this bird had a predisposition or the bad luck to have something go wrong. What ever it was.



Did you look more through the feed/tract, for anything that might look like a bit of metal or glass? Even a small bit of something like that could cut a throat pretty good.

Yes. I cut open every organ. I examined all surfaces of all organs. I compared my images to images of normal chickens posted at the Cornell University of veterinarians. I examined the entire digestive tract. All digesta was normal in consistency, color, and texture all the way through to the large intestine. If there was a perforation in the trachea or lungs too small for my eyes to see? Yes. That is a strong possibility.



To add: Mumsy, I wish I could give you better words like "Hang in there". Sometimes crazy stuff just happens, and it sucks terribly when it seems to happen all at once to us. But at the very least, if you ever see something similar, you can put down a suffering chicken much faster or treat if possible. I hope though for you, that it is the last of your chicken problems for a gooooood long while.

Thank you. Truly. I'm the kind of person that can deal with emergencies and do what needs to be done but then falls apart emotionally when the dust settles. Had my good cry. Poured myself a glass of wine and put some music on. Feeling better.

I would really and truly like to have a few months go by without having to do another necropsy. Murphys law says," Prolly ain't going to happen." I hate Murphy.

Putting a suffering animal out of it's misery should not be a question of "should" but how quickly it can be done mercifully. This poor creature did not die in vain. Hopefully it will further educate chicken owners for years to come. I know I will never forget him. He is forever remembered in my heart. The Balloon Chicken.

 

[aoxa]

You are so brave Mumsy. I have hung on to your whole story here today. It's something I have never even heard about - and I read a lot.. Too much probably.

Thank you for taking your time and doing the necropsy. I know it has got to be hard.

 

[CoopChick719]

Mumsy, I am so sorry for your troubles! I have never heard of such a thing in humans or animals. You are helping educate all of us by doing the necropsies and sharing your findings. Thinking of you!

 

[Bulldogma]

Mumsy - so sorry for your loss today!

Thank you so much for sharing everything you did about the balloon chicken. While this must be a very rare condition, the education you gave us all is invaluable! Thank you.

Don't get me going.... I'd make you BOTH straight....

What Mumsy did was the logical natural thing to do, it was educational and interesting. She practiced good animal husbandry skills.

X's 2!

 

[Mrs.SB]

Mine lasts a long time too . 

How long before it would go bad?

Mumsy I'm sorry for your loss! Hopefully it will help someone else : to you!

I have a question (imagine that haha)
I've been letting my chickens out when I get home (~5:30) I want them hungry and ready to search for food but I know they need something in the mornings. How much food should I give them in the mornings? Right now I have 3 hens and I'm feeding the rest of a 50lb bag of layer pellets before I start FF