sick chicken (10 days), a different one died yesterday, shall I necropsy?

[cherylmarie]

Hello,
Raggedy Ann, (RA) has been sick for about 10 days.
( I have been reading posts here and babying her. Bought some Rooster booster yesterday, will give her today. Her condition is almost the same as this thread:https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hard-bottom-not-egg-bound.1565058/
I was going thru the steps suggested there and not intending to post yet UNTIL I found a dead chicken in the yard this morning. Now I am posting to see if they might be related)

RA is an Isa Brown or production red. The man we bought her from use d the terms interchangeably. About 2.5 yrs old. She may be a bit heavier than the others. Her belly is swollen.

She is lethargic, and her comb is paler than the others. She was spending lots of time inside the coop. She is the bottom of the pecking order. I have her inside in a cage to baby her. She is eating and drinking and pooping. Her poop is runny and green. She will eat pellets, or scratch and scrambled eggs.
I have given her several baths with epsom salts. I did see one small bug on her when I was bathing but not close enough look to identify. Have looked several more times and not seen any. She had a bit of a poopy bottom when I first brought her in. I attempted to feel for an egg, but she started to squawk and struggle to get away even though she was relaxed in the water. She can't possibly be egg bound after this many days?
She seems happy, content, as long as I have her isolated.


My other birds seem well. Combs look good. Egg production seems stable, EXCEPT the dead chicken I found this morning.
There is No bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma on RA.

I intend to treat her myself, not take to a vet.
Her bedding is pine shavings when she is out with the others and in her temp cage.

Moving on to the dead chicken.
Missy was also an ISA Brown, about 2.5 years old. She was the top of the pecking order of my hens and laid the largest eggs. She seemed fine in the yard yesterday, Color of comb was good, and laid an egg yesterday. I came home after dark and shut the coop. This morning I found her dead in the yard.
I have just glanced over her, did not see any sign of struggle or wounds. I don't know the first thing about doing a necropsy, but with the other chicken sick?
thanks for your advice,
Cheryl

 

[coach723]

I will attach a couple of resources for doing your own necropsy. If you do it, take as many pictures as you can at every stage, with organs in place and again when removed. Having an object, like a coin, in pictures can give a sense of scale to others looking at them, which can be helpful. You can post pictures here and people will look and try to help you based on their own experience, label your thread "necropsy photo's" so people know.. The only downside to a home necropsy is the lack of labs to identify virus's and bacteria, but obvious abnormalities in organs can be seen and sometimes be helpful.
The one with the firm abdomen probably has a reproductive problem. Those are not uncommon in birds over the age of 2, particularly breeds that were designed to lay lots of eggs. It could be a cancer, infection, internal laying, etc. There are many reasons a bird can die suddenly, heart attack, fatty liver disease, etc. They are also very good at hiding illness, so sometimes it's not as sudden as it may seem, things can be missed since they hide it.