UPDATED: LACEY PASSED 4:00 AM 6/9/21

[JacinLarkwell]

I do not think I could bring myself to do a necropsy, even with my medical background.
I am so sorry you lost your birds, did you figure out what happened?
I do let my big girls "free range" under supervision for about an hour a day. Have done so since they were about 3-4 months of age. I stay out with them and clean the coop and do other chicken chores, as we have daytime predators here. I suspect she may have ingested something, no way to know if it was something poisonous. They do not go off of our property and we do not use any pesticides of chemicals on the property.

That's completely understandable. I have some that I wasn't able to bring myself to look at either.

We're pretty sure they got into the neighbors "compost". They usually go and dig through the horse poop there, and mama was constantly bringing her chicks and 2 other birds with her to check out the compost. Mama survived, 3 (one was the last to show symptoms and we fibally knew what to warch for and immediately brought her inside to monitor) of the little ones survived and the 2 other birds died from other causes (freezing and a broken neck). But she lost around 4 babies. All 6 that didn't make it had abscesses* only on their liver, nothing else and the young ones all died from their livers failing.

We did check into about 20 different diseases that matched one symptom or another, but none of them marched more than 2 at most and all had other things that weren't present on the birds.

We know the neighbors throw trash ash on their compost and im certain the birds are some of that ash while there.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

That's completely understandable. I have some that I wasn't able to bring myself to look at either.

We're pretty sure they got into the neighbors "compost". They usually go and dig through the horse poop there, and mama was constantly bringing her chicks and 2 other birds with her to check out the compost. Mama survived, 3 (one was the last to show symptoms and we fibally knew what to warch for and immediately brought her inside to monitor) of the little ones survived and the 2 other birds died from other causes (freezing and a broken neck). But she lost around 4 babies. All 6 that didn't make it had abscesses* only on their liver, nothing else and the young ones all died from their livers failing.

We did check into about 20 different diseases that matched one symptom or another, but none of them marched more than 2 at most and all had other things that weren't present on the birds.

We know the neighbors throw trash ash on their compost and im certain the birds are some of that ash while there.

So sorry.
This is the first time I have lost an adult bird, this is a young flock. Oldest ones just turned one in May.
If Lacey did get into something, makes me hesistant to let them out of the run. They have plenty of room in there, but they do so enjoy "free ranging".
I am hoping this is just an unfortunate accident and I do not lose anymore birds this way.

 

[Painted Calls]

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Lacey was a beautiful girl. I recently lost my SLWyandotte hen, Fashion. So please know that you're on my mind and in my heart and I'm sending you virtual hugs. Since she was broody recently, have you inspected for lice and mites?

I feel fairly certain that my beloved Fashion died from fatty liver disease. It was sudden. She went extremely pale, appeared to be distressed and died within an hour. A few weeks before, she looked like she felt bad and her urates were very yellowed but after a round of antibiotics, spending time indoors out of the hot outdoor Temps, and a lot of TLC, she seemed to improve and even resumed laying.
They hide things so well and that makes it more difficult for us to know something is wrong until it's too late. I'm sure that you being there with her brought her great comfort as she died. I hope you can find some comfort in knowing that you loved her fiercely right through the end

 

[Nicole2845]

She breathed with open beak in her few hours left. Sneezed a lot spiting mucus. Terrible day..

I had this same experience today. Mariah was 9 months old. I did notice her comb and wattle were a bit pale yesterday, but she did lay (which, honestly, she doesn't do very regularly). This morning when I let them out of the coop into the run, I noticed she was away by herself. NOT like her! She was laying by the fence of the run and didn't even run over when I threw out a handful of leftover scrambled eggs from breakfast! I went to her and she was gurgling, mouth open, liquid coming out. She got up to walk and kind of stumbled. Her comb was down. I immediately brought her inside to the convalescent crate. She was really struggling to breath. We gave her an injection of penicillin and put a diffuser in her crate with some eucalyptus and oregano. She went to sleep, but I could tell she was struggling to breath. All of a sudden she jumped up, started flapping all over, and then collapsed and died. I think she must have aspirated on the fluid on her lungs. It came on SO QUICK, or at least seemed to. However, once their comb goes pale, that means the sickness is in there pretty good. We have no idea what caused it. We did recently treat our flock for worms and mites. Praying the rest of the flock doesn't get it! I have ordered Vet RX just in case! Should be here Saturday. Did any of your other girls end up with it?

 

[cherrynberry]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Lacey was a beautiful girl. I recently lost my SLWyandotte hen, Fashion. So please know that you're on my mind and in my heart and I'm sending you virtual hugs. Since she was broody recently, have you inspected for lice and mites?

I feel fairly certain that my beloved Fashion died from fatty liver disease. It was sudden. She went extremely pale, appeared to be distressed and died within an hour. A few weeks before, she looked like she felt bad and her urates were very yellowed but after a round of antibiotics, spending time indoors out of the hot outdoor Temps, and a lot of TLC, she seemed to improve and even resumed laying.
They hide things so well and that makes it more difficult for us to know something is wrong until it's too late. I'm sure that you being there with her brought her great comfort as she died. I hope you can find some comfort in knowing that you loved her fiercely right through the end

Just curious, do broody hens tend to get mites or lice?

 

[EmmaRainboe]

So sorry you lost her. She was gorgeous, and so perfect.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Thank you to those who responded. I do appreciate it. Lacey just died in my arms. I am grateful I was able to comfort her. I probably would have found her dead in the coop this morning, if I had not gone out there.
Very sad morning, now almost 4:00 am.
I doubt she had coccidiosis. This was an acute issue, possibly she ingested something.
She was a beautful, sweet girl. Such a mellow personality. She will be dearly missed.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

She was a beautiful bird. It’s really hard to lose a chicken you love. I doubt there’s any better life she could have had then with you.

May Lacey Rest In Peace.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Lacey was a beautiful girl. I recently lost my SLWyandotte hen, Fashion. So please know that you're on my mind and in my heart and I'm sending you virtual hugs. Since she was broody recently, have you inspected for lice and mites?

I feel fairly certain that my beloved Fashion died from fatty liver disease. It was sudden. She went extremely pale, appeared to be distressed and died within an hour. A few weeks before, she looked like she felt bad and her urates were very yellowed but after a round of antibiotics, spending time indoors out of the hot outdoor Temps, and a lot of TLC, she seemed to improve and even resumed laying.
They hide things so well and that makes it more difficult for us to know something is wrong until it's too late. I'm sure that you being there with her brought her great comfort as she died. I hope you can find some comfort in knowing that you loved her fiercely right through the end

Thank you so much for your kind words, I really do appreciate it. Some people just don’t understand how much these birds mean to us. I am so sorry for your loss as well.

 

[Chicken Chiquita]

Thank you to those who responded. I do appreciate it. Lacey just died in my arms. I am grateful I was able to comfort her. I probably would have found her dead in the coop this morning, if I had not gone out there.
Very sad morning, now almost 4:00 am.
I doubt she had coccidiosis. This was an acute issue, possibly she ingested something.
She was a beautful, sweet girl. Such a mellow personality. She will be dearly missed. View attachment 2710781

I'm not really a part of this thread, but I noticed the title and wanted to offer my comfort. I'm so sorry to hear about Lacey, she looks absolutely beautiful from the picture.