What did you do with your flock today?

[LTAY1946]

I've forgot how many but several hatched on this Black Friday. That's a real bargain.

 

[Smokerbill]

Sad news today. I found one of my chickens dead on the floor of the secure run this morning. The only thing I could think to do diagnosis-wise was check her crop, which still had food in it. I just didn't feel up to doing a necropsy on her to try to find the reason, so I guess I'll never know why she died.

I know for sure she laid an egg yesterday and the day before, and all of the chickens have been acting totally normal. Yesterday evening I took them for a walk in the yard, and then got them into the night run by shaking the scratch jar and feeding them some scratch grains just before roosting time. And none of them were acting strange or sick.

She was a few feet away from the roost, so she didn't just drop dead off the roosting bar. The other chickens are all acting fine this morning.

Oh well, I guess it's just part of raising chickens.

 

[ValerieJ]

Sad news today. I found one of my chickens dead on the floor of the secure run this morning. The only thing I could think to do diagnosis-wise was check her crop, which still had food in it. I just didn't feel up to doing a necropsy on her to try to find the reason, so I guess I'll never know why she died.

I know for sure she laid an egg yesterday and the day before, and all of the chickens have been acting totally normal. Yesterday evening I took them for a walk in the yard, and then got them into the night run by shaking the scratch jar and feeding them some scratch grains just before roosting time. And none of them were acting strange or sick.

She was a few feet away from the roost, so she didn't just drop dead off the roosting bar. The other chickens are all acting fine this morning.

Oh well, I guess it's just part of raising chickens.

That is such sad news. They are all such pampered healthy hens at your place. Sometimes we just don't know what went wrong.

It's hard not knowing why, but we don't do necropsies here either. I completely understand that. It's a hard part of chicken keeping, but it is definitely part of it.

 

[Smokerbill]

That is such sad news. They are all such pampered healthy hens at your place. Sometimes we just don't know what went wrong.

It's hard not knowing why, but we don't do necropsies here either. I completely understand that. It's a hard part of chicken keeping, but it is definitely part of it.

Thanks Valerie. After a while I felt up to trying to find the reason and did a necropsy. I think I came up with a couple of possibilities on what the cause of death was.

First things I looked at were the condition of the comb and wattles, and they looked perfectly fine. Eyes looked good, and the skin was in good shape. No signs of external parasites. The crop was still pretty full from yesterday, though, and felt kind of mushy/grainy, which I would guess is normal.

Inside the beak/mouth looked good. It smelled a little sour, but I'm guessing that would be expected from a chicken that had been dead overnight. There was quite a bit of muscle tissue on the breast bone and the rest of the body, and she felt heavy so she wasn't malnourished.

Looking inside the body there was quite a bit of fat around the vent area, but very little internally around the organs, so I think she may have been a little overweight, but not by much.

I found a single roundworm about two inches long inside, the only internal parasite I found. There were a lot of small chunks of safety glass in the gizzard, and most of it had rounded edges. I don't think that was a problem.

Liver and heart looked healthy on the exterior, as did the intestines. There was one egg that was full size but hadn't been coated with calcium, and another soft one about 1/3 that size in the oviduct.

Two things I found were suspicious.

There were some blood clots in the body cavity, near the heart I think. Maybe a sign of infection or heart problem?

And there was a wadded up softshell from a egg that evidently broke inside her at some time, and may have caused an infection. I don't think I cut into the oviduct so I'm not sure how it got into the body cavity.

There has always been one of my chickens that layed softshell eggs every once in a while, and I suspect that she's the one that died. I guess that's what can happen when chickens are bred to lay lots of eggs.

Edited to add:

I just remembered that even though there was food in the crop and in the gizzard (with the rounded chunks of glass), the intestines were completely empty. I don't know if that means anything, but it does seem strange.

Edit #2:

It's possible the blood clots were near the liver, so I read up on Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome. The following article says that it can cause sudden death, but the comb is pale from internal blood loss. The comb of my chicken was still bright red and plump, and the liver didn't look yellowish, so I don't think that was the cause.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...e/fatty-liver-hemorrhagic-syndrome-in-poultry

 

[ValerieJ]

Thanks Valerie. After a while I felt up to trying to find the reason and did a necropsy. I think I came up with a couple of possibilities on what the cause of death was.

First things I looked at were the condition of the comb and wattles, and they looked perfectly fine. Eyes looked good, and the skin was in good shape. No signs of external parasites. The crop was still pretty full from yesterday, though, and felt kind of mushy/grainy, which I would guess is normal.

Inside the beak/mouth looked good. It smelled a little sour, but I'm guessing that would be expected from a chicken that had been dead overnight. There was quite a bit of muscle tissue on the breast bone and the rest of the body, and she felt heavy so she wasn't malnourished.

Looking inside the body there was quite a bit of fat around the vent area, but very little internally around the organs, so I think she may have been a little overweight, but not by much.

I found a single roundworm about two inches long inside, the only internal parasite I found. There were a lot of small chunks of safety glass in the gizzard, and most of it had rounded edges. I don't think that was a problem.

Liver and heart looked healthy on the exterior, as did the intestines. There was one egg that was full size but hadn't been coated with calcium, and another soft one about 1/3 that size in the oviduct.

Two things I found were suspicious.

There were some blood clots in the body cavity, near the heart I think. Maybe a sign of infection or heart problem?

And there was a wadded up softshell from a egg that evidently broke inside her at some time, and may have caused an infection. I don't think I cut into the oviduct so I'm not sure how it got into the body cavity.

There has always been one of my chickens that layed softshell eggs every once in a while, and I suspect that she's the one that died. I guess that's what can happen when chickens are bred to lay lots of eggs.

Edited to add:

I just remembered that even though there was food in the crop and in the gizzard (with the rounded chunks of glass), the intestines were completely empty. I don't know if that means anything, but it does seem strange.

Edit #2:

It's possible the blood clots were near the liver, so I read up on Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome. The following article says that it can cause sudden death, but the comb is pale from internal blood loss. The comb of my chicken was still bright red and plump, and the liver didn't look yellowish, so I don't think that was the cause.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...e/fatty-liver-hemorrhagic-syndrome-in-poultry

Well, that was a pretty thorough exam. I think you would have seen whatever the problem was. The blood clots near the heart make me wonder about heart attack, but someone with some experience in necropsy could steer you better than I can.

It's interesting that she had the remnants of a soft shelled egg in her from some previous time. I'm guessing you won't get anymore soft shelled eggs.

No matter the cause, she had a good life for the short time she was here. That's the way I always look at it. I've lost two hens in this last 6 months to unknown causes, but in my case they were old, so that is probably the cause. But, no matter the reason, it's hard to lose them. So sorry for your loss!!!

 

[Tumbleweedlynn]

Sad news today. I found one of my chickens dead on the floor of the secure run this morning. The only thing I could think to do diagnosis-wise was check her crop, which still had food in it. I just didn't feel up to doing a necropsy on her to try to find the reason, so I guess I'll never know why she died.

I know for sure she laid an egg yesterday and the day before, and all of the chickens have been acting totally normal. Yesterday evening I took them for a walk in the yard, and then got them into the night run by shaking the scratch jar and feeding them some scratch grains just before roosting time. And none of them were acting strange or sick.

She was a few feet away from the roost, so she didn't just drop dead off the roosting bar. The other chickens are all acting fine this morning.

Oh well, I guess it's just part of raising chickens.

I’m sorry

 

[Tumbleweedlynn]

I brought in my favorite little pullet, Violet, and just looked her over real good. She’s such a sweetie

 

[PopoMyers]

One more question before I order 50 of them. How many chickens per nipple? I don't remember seeing that on the pages I look at.

I have one bucket with 4 nipples, have had up to 16 chickens sharing it. The lower in the pecking order just wait their turn.
Being that the bucket is in the secure coop area, I also have another container out in the big area when they are outside, along with open shallow containers in the summer, which I have to fill daily. Have seen the rooster immerse his head underwater.

 

[kurby22]

Watermaals are exciting I've only seen pictures of them on Greenfire. Do you have a rooster too and are you going to breed just them or add to another breed?
Hooray and congrats on your cuckoo maran hen

I am going to be getting a blue quail Watermaal boy next weekend when I go to the show! I’m super excited to see if I can make some beebies! The Watermaal Club is trying to get blue quail accepted as an SOP variety by the ABA, so I figured I could help some with that by showing at some qualifying meets next year maybe! I’m not a huge fan of the quail pattern, but I needed to get some good quality birds to get the trifed comb introduced into my project birds I have black, white and cuckoo pullets that have bad combs…so I’m hoping to infuse some good genes eventually! I like their colors—especially the cuckoo! I’m guessing these new quail hens are from the Greenfire line, which is at least a decent start!

Wow! You have been busy!
And, as ever, your boys and girls are so, so pretty . Good luck for next week's show
Happy Thanksgiving to all! (I'm feeling quite left out - just a normal weekend for us in the U.K. ).

Yes, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind Fall…I have a ton of things to do but today is the first day in FOREVER that we have zero plans to be somewhere so I’m really enjoying just doing nothing Gonna do a bunch of winterizing the coops and runs tomorrow instead of today! So right now I’m sitting and watching football while Ruby’s Vaseline treatment soaks into his dry cracked feet!

I had to share my contribution to our Thanksgiving yesterday. Isn’t he a cute Turkey??

 

[PopoMyers]

How fun! And look at all your guineas.