Littlefoxhat
Chirping
My husband called me at work today saying one of my birds (~2.5 y/o Rhode island Red) was laying on the run floor with her face on the ground, mouth open, very floppy. He picked her up and she startled a little bit and she pooped on him, it was very watery. He said her neck was not supporting her head and kind of flailing around while he was holding her. She passed away within seconds of him calling me, and there was not much that we could have done.
She had eaten very little today (her crop was probably empty this morning, but I rushed through my chicken chores this morning and didn't get a great look at her when I opened the coop at about 6am, I am pretty sure she came out with the others, though). She may have been poorly for several hours, but my husband wasn't home until right before he called me, about 11am. I asked if her face or comb or wattles seemed swollen or purple, but he said "maybe her eyelids were swollen" but he wasn't at all sure and when I saw her after she passed, she was just pale and no swelling was obvious. She hadn't been coughing or sneezing, and the inside of her mouth seemed normal. I checked her throat for obstructions, found nothing. No mites or other feather bugs and I am pretty sure no internal parasites as she had been laying regularly and seemed in good health.
I am sending her to get a necropsy at the San Bernardino CAHFS lab. I am at a loss, I really don't have any explanation of what happened to her. I am, of course, worried that it's the HPAI/H5N1 but I am trying not to obsess over that at this point. I keep my birds in their run most of the time, though they did get a few hours of free-ranging yesterday afternoon and the hen in question seemed fine and she laid an egg that afternoon as well. The other three birds seem alright, but of course on of the listed "symptoms" of HPAI is "sudden death".
I guess I am here looking for some solace and maybe some pre-necropsy hope that it's not bird flu. Has anyone else just had a perfectly healthy, young hen drop dead for no reason? Any possibility of her having eaten something that could have killed her so quickly? How worried should I be for the rest of my flock, my other animals (two dogs and a cat) and my husband and myself?
I will update this thread if I get any information from the necropsy.
She had eaten very little today (her crop was probably empty this morning, but I rushed through my chicken chores this morning and didn't get a great look at her when I opened the coop at about 6am, I am pretty sure she came out with the others, though). She may have been poorly for several hours, but my husband wasn't home until right before he called me, about 11am. I asked if her face or comb or wattles seemed swollen or purple, but he said "maybe her eyelids were swollen" but he wasn't at all sure and when I saw her after she passed, she was just pale and no swelling was obvious. She hadn't been coughing or sneezing, and the inside of her mouth seemed normal. I checked her throat for obstructions, found nothing. No mites or other feather bugs and I am pretty sure no internal parasites as she had been laying regularly and seemed in good health.
I am sending her to get a necropsy at the San Bernardino CAHFS lab. I am at a loss, I really don't have any explanation of what happened to her. I am, of course, worried that it's the HPAI/H5N1 but I am trying not to obsess over that at this point. I keep my birds in their run most of the time, though they did get a few hours of free-ranging yesterday afternoon and the hen in question seemed fine and she laid an egg that afternoon as well. The other three birds seem alright, but of course on of the listed "symptoms" of HPAI is "sudden death".
I guess I am here looking for some solace and maybe some pre-necropsy hope that it's not bird flu. Has anyone else just had a perfectly healthy, young hen drop dead for no reason? Any possibility of her having eaten something that could have killed her so quickly? How worried should I be for the rest of my flock, my other animals (two dogs and a cat) and my husband and myself?
I will update this thread if I get any information from the necropsy.
