What disease/ illness is this?

[rebrascora]

Well done. I know how difficult that must have been for you. Considering the colour and weak structure of the liver and all that abdominal fat, I would say that Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome is the most likely cause of death, the heavy fat deposits may have lead to her laying internally as well but it is not really possible to identify yellow yolk material amongst all that yellow fat. The fact that she was still visiting the nest boxes but not producing eggs, suggests that may have been the case.
How much fermented grains were you giving them and was it on a daily basis? For bantams it should be no more than a teaspoon each a day of combined treats and even then, not every day. I would be inclined to cut that from their diet altogether now, or sprout grains for them instead. It may be that she had a genetic disposition to Fatty Liver or was getting more of the mixed grains than the others and hopefully that is the case and the others are OK. It is so difficult to spot obesity in chickens because of all those feathers and of course we see nice plump meat chickens in the grocery store and assume that is a normal shape for a chicken, when in fact layers should be a bit on the scrawny side to be healthy.

 

[Chamelaucium]

Well done. I know how difficult that must have been for you. Considering the colour and weak structure of the liver and all that abdominal fat, I would say that Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome is the most likely cause of death, the heavy fat deposits may have lead to her laying internally as well but it is not really possible to identify yellow yolk material amongst all that yellow fat. The fact that she was still visiting the nest boxes but not producing eggs, suggests that may have been the case.
How much fermented grains were you giving them and was it on a daily basis? For bantams it should be no more than a teaspoon each a day of combined treats and even then, not every day. I would be inclined to cut that from their diet altogether now, or sprout grains for them instead. It may be that she had a genetic disposition to Fatty Liver or was getting more of the mixed grains than the others and hopefully that is the case and the others are OK. It is so difficult to spot obesity in chickens because of all those feathers and of course we see nice plump meat chickens in the grocery store and assume that is a normal shape for a chicken, when in fact layers should be a bit on the scrawny side to be healthy.

Thank you so much, I didn’t know that about fermented grains or how our layer chickens should look. I would say I have been giving them about 2 cups full once a month. The chicken in the photo was my only standard size chicken.

 

[rebrascora]

Not just fermented grains but grains in general are high in carbohydrates and of course hens love them, so will eat them in preference to layer feed. That said, 2 cups a month is a very moderate amount..... do you ferment them for that long ie 2 months?? If so, maybe that is the problem. I'm not knowledgeable enough on the fermentation process, but generally a few days is all they need. Perhaps you could ferment some of their layer feed as a treat instead. Mine go mad for it which makes me chuckle because it's just the same old layer pellets being served up in a different form.