Two deaths possibly solved

[LadyAnime]

I'm currently out of town helping my family. Hubby is home taking care of the flock. We have had two hens die less than a week apart. We live in a remote area and no vets are willing to look at them after they pass. They reffered us down south but that place also is only doing emergency treatments. So hubby ( with the help of a bird friend ) did the necropsy himself. He found an egg in her but he also found an enlarged heart. So we figured it was bad genetics. She was a bantam ( we don't know the specific breed of any of the three bantams we had ). And now another bantam has passed. He hasn't done anything yet as he is going to call the vet and beg them to take a look. Very scared that this will wipe my whole flock before I'm home. He changes their water daily and they have access to food, grit and everything else. They are about a year old now and other than a small cold ( in another chicken ) and an abnormal growth in my little roo ( surgery and he's been healthy since ) none of the others have ever had any issues. Any advice? Anything we might be overlooking? We did gape worm treatment back in March but none of them are gaping and he didn't find any noticable worms anywhere in the previous bird. Any help is greatly appreciated. ( In northern cali. It hasn't been too hot or too cold lately either... ) I also don't believe these bantams to be related but I'm really worried for my other ( and last ) bantam hen...

 

[LadyAnime]

It might be worth noting in the pecking order these two girls were on the bottom of the ladder but they didn't have any external injuries that hubby could find...and he did say he thought he felt an egg in this one today.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you checked with UCDavis about a necropsy at one of their 4 lab locations? You can ship overnight by contacting them for a prepaid shipping label—https://cahfs.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/tests-and-fees

If your husband took pictures of the organs during the necropsy to post here, that would be helpful. If he felt a stuck egg, it could have been an egg or lash egg material. Hard to know without pictures.

 

[LadyAnime]

We had called and they said they were only doing emergency treatments.. not sure if it counts as an emergency now that it's more than one death. Confirmed the first bantam had a large heart and was probably egg bound or trying to push an egg out when she passed. Hubby just discovered the second one had been eating their bedding ( her stomach was packed full of it). Unsure if it was stress of the first hen dying or what could have possessed her to do this... Her heart was normal size and she had no eggs so fingers crossed this is the last of it...

 

[Eggcessive]

The deaths don’t sound related.