Wanted Please - Harrogate / York / Leeds area

[siamang2]

Very sad day . Got up to find one of my hens had died in the night. She didn't look too well yesterday, standing on her own, necked pulled in and then she took herself off to early bed. One of my other girls exhibited the same symptoms a month a go but after she laid a softy she seemed fine, so I didn't worry too much about Spotty.

 

I have had lots of problems with laying over the last 3-4 months; very large eggs, no eggs, lots of softies and now only one of my hens is laying again. I've wormed them, treated them for lice, given them a mineral powder to help with their health and don't know what else I can do.

 

Do I need to take her to the vets to find out why she died? Or just accept it as 'one of those things' and keep an eye on the other two?

 

All advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[chicken bark]

Sorry for your loss.

 

How old was the hen?

[siamang2]

She was probably nearly 2 years old. I got her in January 2009 at Point of lay. Is that old or young for a hen? I really don't know.

[Leicester_H]

Hi

 

Sorry for your loss - it is sad - I know.

 

I understood that generally they laid regularly for a couple of years and lived generally for 4-5 years.(sometimes up to 7)

 

So 2 years would seem a bit young.

 

I don't think I'd go to the expense of taking her to the vet though - unless you have a particular concern ?

I think I'd give everything an extra thorough clean and keep a close eye on the remaining hens.

Hens tend to hide any illnesses and so, often by the time the owners realise something is wrong, it too late to do any thing constructive.

 

I think you/she may just have been unlucky.

 

Please let us know how you get on / what you decide.

 

H

[Egluntyne]

I wouldn't bother with a pm. It will be costly, and unless you have something highly infectios going through your flock, it won't be of any benefit.

 

Sorry to hear about the hen.

[Mollie333]

We got offered a PM for Pat, but it would of cost quite a lot. I wouldn't, to be honest.

Sorry for your loss.

[WitchHazel]

Sorry for your loss.

Sometimes it's hardest when there is no obvious cause. I lost one of mine earlier this year, and we were on edge for weeks afterwards worrying that whatever had happened to her might happen to our other girls.

 

A PM is a good idea if you are looking for something in particular or if you want to rule out something specific. In your case, I don't know how helpful it would be because there weren't any specific symptoms which could indicate what to test for. The Lab would have to test for a large range of things and you still might not get your answer.

 

You also need to get the PM done more of less immediately - so if you can't get the body to the Vet pretty much straightaway, you''d need to look at freezing her. (Bit gruesome, I know).

[Henhathnofury]

Hybrids often lay heavily and then have problems with egg-laying...sometimes dying of things egg-related like egg peritonitis. Two years for a hybrid would fit but for a pure bred chicken, it is young. But she sounds as if she had problems with her eggs...we had a girl who was exactly the same and sadly died of a prolapse.

 

We did have a post mortem on one girl because she was pitifully young...we did discover that she had something rare and it put our minds to rest....but it is a personal thing.

 

Sorry though to hear of your poor girl...it never gets easier....

[siamang2]

Thank you for your messages. I decided not to do the PM thinking it was perhaps a step too far and considering we have been having problems with eggs recently.

 

Still feeling quite sad that we only have two chucks wandering around, so may have to get some more! Can my eglu take 4 chickens okay? I didn't want to only introduce one thinking it may get bullied more.

[chicken bark]

The eglu itself can take 4 but the run obviously can't. I think some people even have 5 or more in their eglu's but that is usually the chickens choice.

 

I think you are right to go for 2 rather than introducing a lone one.