Well it has been a sad week with the loss last Monday of my little broody bantam lavender pekin (cochin) who I found dead and cold on her eggs. She was a real sweetheart and both I and her husband are missing her badly.... They lived in a little prefab coop on my lawn and were such a happy couple free ranging a large lawned area of the garden.... always pooping where you really didn't want them to but couldn't help but forgiving them for it. Luckily I had another pekin in a different coop which had just gone broody the night before so I was able to transfer the eggs and 
they have survived getting cold overnight. They were about 9 days into incubation.
The second loss was a 5 year old hen that I gave to some neighbours about 2 years ago. I still have her mother and 3 of her sisters. She had been looking sick for a few days and when I went to see her at their request today, she was very weak and pale and had lost interest in food and was just lying waiting for the inevitable. I offered to end her suffering and they agreed but preferred for me to take her home to do it. She lay calmly whilst I carried her but half way down the hill she had a quick spasm and died in my arms.
I took a series of photos of each bird being examined which I thought some people might be interested in from an educational point of view. It is my opinion that the first died of a heart attack possibly as a result of fatty liver although the liver did not show the usual tan colouration, it was very dark red but pretty friable. The second had a tumour on her breast bone and a hugely enlarged and discoloured liver with one small lesion in it and a tumour on her heart and from the research I have done it was almost certainly Lymphoid Leukosis, which is commonly referred to as Big Liver Disease. I am open to other interpretation of these finding though and discussion of anything in the photos which people think is relevant. to cooperate....
It may take me a while to download today's photos as I have a new phone and it is not wanting to cooperate.
they have survived getting cold overnight. They were about 9 days into incubation.The second loss was a 5 year old hen that I gave to some neighbours about 2 years ago. I still have her mother and 3 of her sisters. She had been looking sick for a few days and when I went to see her at their request today, she was very weak and pale and had lost interest in food and was just lying waiting for the inevitable. I offered to end her suffering and they agreed but preferred for me to take her home to do it. She lay calmly whilst I carried her but half way down the hill she had a quick spasm and died in my arms.
I took a series of photos of each bird being examined which I thought some people might be interested in from an educational point of view. It is my opinion that the first died of a heart attack possibly as a result of fatty liver although the liver did not show the usual tan colouration, it was very dark red but pretty friable. The second had a tumour on her breast bone and a hugely enlarged and discoloured liver with one small lesion in it and a tumour on her heart and from the research I have done it was almost certainly Lymphoid Leukosis, which is commonly referred to as Big Liver Disease. I am open to other interpretation of these finding though and discussion of anything in the photos which people think is relevant. to cooperate....
It may take me a while to download today's photos as I have a new phone and it is not wanting to cooperate.
