Chicken died! Suffocated!!!

[janine g]

I have 5 chickens left. The one that died was HUGE and healthy, so I thought. I saw nothing in her throat-no foreign objects or worms that I could see...but it was very clear that she was not able to get air. Comb turned dark, no oxygen. We have had them for less than a year- I am pretty sure they are not quite a year old. They were all big when we got them.

I am on the fence about worming them blindly...have had some fecals done a few months ago...just random droppings in the yard. nothing showed up. My husband said he heard her coughing the other day.

It has been rainy and cold-but that is all relative since we live in New Orleans, cold is in the forties for a day or two at a time.

I need some advice on how to proceed.


They are free ranging birds, they eat pellets, they get scratch once a day. Rarely treats or veg or cooked oatmeal- have never wormed them. the dead bird had poo butt, and so do some of the others...i thought that was kind of normal for chickens...i am now thinking it isn't.

i have some wazine sitting next to me and I have some sulfa based anti biotic stuff in the garage. I can get whatever...

there are basically no chicken vets here.

thanks!

janine

 

[sourland]

She may very well have had a heart attack. What you describe is also typical of heart attacks - gasping for air, comb and face turning dark, and collapsing. I would be cautious about starting on a regimen of worming or antibiotic treatment. Good luck, and hopefully this was an isolated incident.

 

[janine g]

Sad.
I have another one who is as large. Do you think the poopy butt is an indicator of poor health? the giants had the sloppiest butts, but we have 3 normal sized chickens and they can get a little gross too.

I had no idea heart attacks could happen to chickens!

 

[casportpony]

Sorry for you loss.. You should send her to LSU for a necropsy.

 

[spotsplus]

So sorry for your loss. Sounds like an isolated incident. You could have a necropsy done.

Tammie

 

[janine g]

I thought I probably should put her in the freezer to take to lsu, but, such a big chicken and such a small freezer. I wonder if the fact that her and her sisters are the culls from meat farming puts them in a genetically compromised place when it comes to heart attacks. They are great layers though...
I guess I was too freaked to really think it through.

Thank you for your kind words. And advice.

 

[casportpony]

I thought I probably should put her in the freezer to take to lsu, but, such a big chicken and such a small freezer.  I wonder if the fact that her and her sisters are the culls from meat farming puts them in a genetically compromised place when it comes to heart attacks. They are great layers though...
I guess I was too freaked to really think it through.

Thank you for your kind words.  And advice.

Never freeze, just refrigerate.