Chicken Suddenly Died….

[Frizzlett]

I wasn’t going to post about this but it’s been bugging me. 5 days ago I noticed one of our Jersey Giant pullets (18 weeks old) seemed sick. She wasn’t doing anything except laying in the corner of the run all day. Every once in a while she’d eat and drink and when let out to free range, she pecked around and seemed almost normal. I started looking for symptoms of an illness but didn’t notice any red flags. The next day she was limping. I assumed she got knocked off the roost or fell. No obvious injuries otherwise. We brought her inside to isolate her and restrict her movement so she could heal. She was perkier, eating normally and drinking. She seemed like her limp was getting better after a few days so we let her out with the others during the day and brought her in before dark so she wouldn’t strain her leg again trying to roost. Yesterday I brought her in early because she seemed way too hot. Panting more than the others, laying in the water dishes. It was 90F yesterday so I assumed it was just the heat. She stood in the same spot in the box for about 2 hours and eventually laid down. We went to bed, woke up and there she was. Dead. I should mention we had a Cochin hen 3 weeks ago that died suddenly too. She was fine the day before, even laid an egg. She was lethargic and drinking excessively so I picked her up to check her out and she vomited, aspirated, and died.
I’ve thought about gapeworm, sour crop, impactions, egg bound. Nothing fits. The Jersey wasn’t laying but she was in a nest box yesterday. She seemed restless instead of actually nesting though. She wasn’t egg bound. Mareks doesn’t really fit but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. But nobody else has symptoms of any kind. They are dewormed regularly, eating chick grower with free choice grit and oyster shell for the layers. Her poop was normal. She had great color. She lost a little bit of weight but we assumed it was from not wanting to walk to the feeder on her bad leg. I’ve looked in to a necropsy but I can’t find anyone near me who does it. I’m at a loss and worried this isn’t the end.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hi! I would suspect that for the jersey giant something was wrong internally. Do you have other jersey giant pullets?

Was the Cochin a good weight?

How hot has it been where you are?

 

[Frizzlett]

Hi! I would suspect that for the jersey giant something was wrong internally. Do you have other jersey giant pullets?

Was the Cochin a good weight?

How hot has it been where you are?

I have one other Jersey Giant pullet. We bought them together at the same time as babies. The other has been labeled as a “failure to thrive”. She was ill months ago, we almost lost her. But since then, even though she’s healthy, she hasn’t been growing properly. I’ll attach a picture of the two.

The Cochin was at a great weight. She had been laying eggs regularly until that day. Luckily her babies are growing in the incubator right now so we’ll get to have a part of her with us again.

It has been 90F+ for the almost the entire month of July where I am. It cooled down last week to the low 80’s and yesterday was our hottest day since at around 88-90F and very high humidity. This month has been terrible!

Greta (the deceased) is the bigger one with red comb and wattles. Gertie is the smaller, “failure to thrive” one. There was over a pound difference in their weight.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Ugh! This heat has been terrible. Did you notice any heat stress in them? Other then panting and holding their wings out?

 

[Tonyroo]

Try to avoid failure to thrive chicks, they live a short life no matter what you do to help. I had some from my flock that I hatched but culled when they were 3 days old. I already saw the signs of there conditions. It's usually related to the malformation of there organs or exterior physical deformities while developing in the egg.

 

[Frizzlett]

Ugh! This heat has been terrible. Did you notice any heat stress in them? Other then panting and holding their wings out?

All the time! I try my best to keep them cool. Any day 80+ they’re panting. We hose them down when it gets around 85+. It seems to do the trick and they’re used it now and unbothered!

 

[Frizzlett]

Try to avoid failure to thrive chicks, they live a short life no matter what you do to help. I had some from my flock that I hatched but culled when they were 3 days old. I already saw the signs of there conditions. It's usually related to the malformation of there organs or exterior physical deformities while developing in the egg.

Gertie was fine until she got sick. She was always a little smaller than Greta but not by much until the illness. Greta was perfectly fine until last week. No signs anything was off. They were Hoover hatchery chicks so I wonder if Hoover has poor quality chicks. We had 4 Brahmas in the past from them and 3 died between 1 and 5 weeks of age, despite treatment. Our other Cochins also came from them (the one that died recently did not) but they’ve never had problems and are starting to lay now. Our chickens are mainly pets so we’re fine with whatever they do. If we can make them better, we’re going to try. We’re never buying from Hoover again though, just in case it’s them and not us!

 

[SmiYa0126]

It's hard to say when it's sudden like this. From my observations, it sometimes happens at the major age changes, 3, 6, 12 months, then at 2 to 3 years. Heartbreaking nonetheless

 

[Frizzlett]

It's hard to say when it's sudden like this. From my observations, it sometimes happens at the major age changes, 3, 6, 12 months, then at 2 to 3 years. Heartbreaking nonetheless

It sure is! When it happens I wonder if I can handle raising chickens at all. At least Greta’s death wasn’t traumatizing like the Cochin that aspirated. I’ll never get over watching her suffocate, unable to anything about it Chickens are the best… and yet also the worst.