young hen dies suddenly

[tic]

I have started keeping hens from last june and I have a healthy bunch , or so I thought .. They are about 10-12 months old and today I topped up the food and let them out to roam around the garden . when I locked them in I found them roosting as normal except one of my rhode island reds which was lying dead below them with a soft egg beside it . It has been laying and was very healthy looking and also to touch .. I am puzzled and worrying if it could be something sinister or just something that happens .

it just seemed to be ok one minute and a coupe of hours later ... dead

 

[cjeanean]

and this should be in emergencies....sorry, I don't know what could have caused your dead hen...maybe egg bound???

 

[birdlover]

I'm sorry about your girl.

Many people have had that happen and there's no way to know what went wrong without getting her necropsied. If there was a soft shell egg beside her, it probably was related to egg laying. Sometimes they have something wrong with them and egg laying causes stress on their hearts. Sometimes they just die of a heart attack not related to egg laying and I had a year old hen that died from her liver hemmoraging. I wouldn't worry unless this happens again in the near future in which case I would take that chicken for a necropsy to see if there's a disease to worry about. Best of luck with your others and

 

[tic]

thanks for this , I have noticed that the other Rhode island I have that I aquired at the same time has a very large chest , it looks as if it is inflamed but I am worried that I am just being paranoid due to one dying .. any thoughts

 

[birdlover]

Feel her crop first thing in the morning. It should be empty and flat. If it's enlarged, she may have an impacted crop or what they call sour crop. I know what you mean about being paranoid. Very typical with us chicken lovers. If she's eating and acting normal, you probably have nothing to worry about. Check her crop tomorrow morning.

 

[tic]

hi , everything seems fine and we are npw trying out our home made incubator

old rocky the rooster has been busy

 

[pips&peeps]

If your birds are too fat when they start to lay, this will also cause a liver hemmorage as it puts too much strain on the bird. The onset of lay is actually the most dangerous time for a pullet.

 

[tic]

Hi . sorry to be so late in reply ... we have hatched 3 chicks about a week ago and today we had to help a rhode island out of the egg but we are concerned that it is not quite right. It seems to have a sac attached ( either a growth or the yolk) it seems to be moving a bit more but we are concerned that somethng is wrong .. When we helped to hatch our marans it seemed that the membrane dried out to much due to the heat inthe bator ... can anyone shed light on this growth / yolk sac ???we are very new to this and are worried we have jumped the gun !!

 

[jobmcd]

Quote:
Can you please tell me what to do for an impacted crop? I have a young Ameracauna that has a very distended crop, has had watery poo and is laying on her side obviously to full crop and discomfort?

Thanks so much for any help you can give!!!

 

[birdlover]

jobmcd,

I only had to deal with an impacted crop once and I ended up taking her to the veterinarian's for help. However, I just googled "impacted crops in chickens" and was given a wealth of information. I'd suggest going there and/or posting your problem in emergencies as a separate thread. I hope your chicken is okay.