Author Topic: Cause of sudden death in chicken?? (Read 3547 times)

WoodlandsDevon · « **on:** October 11, 2014, 09:37:42 pm »

Just found a dead hybrid layer in the hen house??? she was about 8-9 months, curled up on the floor. No signs of blood/squashing etc, looked perfect on the outside??? could it be severe mites? I didn't think they were that bad!! Some of the flock have also had a respiratory virus but we've just given them 3 days of tylan antibiotic so don't see why it should be that??
I've also wormed them recently. Could this just be a weak hen (I haven;t lost one in 2 years I've been keeping hybrids?? So many questions...
Glad of any ideas
Thanks

Hevxxx99 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 12, 2014, 12:23:34 am »

Oh dear! How sad. They usually give you a little warning of impending death.

Was she laying? Could she have been egg bound?

I lost an LF Ancona to red mite years ago when I foolishly bought a secondhand henhouse. She was severely anaemic according to the PM I had done (I was young and keen to learn) so it can happen. She had few symptoms beforehand, but was possibly a little subdued in retrospect.

Stereo · « **Reply #2 on:** October 12, 2014, 12:44:12 am »

Any sign of a purple comb? Sometimes those rubbish hybrids just die. No reason to it. They are not designed for survival and have an acceptable mortality level built in.

chrismahon · « **Reply #3 on:** October 12, 2014, 06:08:40 am »

You do get random sudden deaths in younger birds of any breed in my experience. We had a Wyandotte die for no obvious reason at about laying age -came out of the coop and was dead an hour later. Same with two Cream Legbars. May be something to do with hormonal changes, may be a heart attack (purple comb). I remember reading something about a so-called 'lethal' or 'death gene', but can't remember any details.

It could be red mite WoodlandsDevon. If she has a pale comb and they are really bad. In which case you will lose more soon. As I'm sure you know red mite multiply fast so need more feeding -depending on temperature they can double in a week. Had a lot of soft shelled eggs recently, or eggs dropped off perches?

lord flynn · « **Reply #4 on:** October 12, 2014, 10:58:13 am »

have had young hybrids die as well, they don't tend to be very robust IME and if you already have something in the flock it could have contributed (not sure if you used a vet or not but not much use giving antibiotics for a virus-if they had a secondary bacterial infection then yes).

ladyK · « **Reply #5 on:** October 13, 2014, 11:55:31 pm »

How exactly does a mite infestation cause soft shells / dropped eggs?
Does this have to do with the anaemia?

chrismahon · « **Reply #6 on:** October 14, 2014, 07:08:05 am »

Our neighbour has a spate of such eggs LadyK. One resulted in a temporary prolapse. When I checked the coop it was very heavily infested with red mite. I just made a connection that perhaps the blood loss could be the cause of the egg issues. The next day the birds refused to go into the coop at night and roosted in a tree, where ultimately the foxes got them.

ladyK · « **Reply #7 on:** October 14, 2014, 12:01:13 pm »

Thanks for clarifying Chris.

Heather B · « **Reply #8 on:** October 15, 2014, 10:14:47 pm »

We have had the same problem; I think over the last year I have lost 5 quite young hybrids. I do wonder if it is connected to them not having laid for a while. I am so conscious of red mite - my chicken coops look like the top of a diatomed christmas cake and I am sure I have had no red mite this year. I regularly check for them and worm well also. I must admit though dusting 20 girls is an event which involves all the family and is not the easiest task as I would struggle doing this on my own so getting help sometimes is hard. Losing hens is a worry and I have said I will do down the PM route next time.