Dead Chicken!

Herr_Schmitt

Just been down to let the chickens out to find one of the Babcock's dead in a nesting box. She had been off her food yesterday and keeping herself away from the other 5. My wife said she felt very thin when she picked her up.

My question is, could it be something infectious and is there any obvious signs we should be looking for? She wasnt that old and had only been laying for about 5 weeks. The coop is kept clean and my wife had disinfected it last weekend.

Also, any ideas of what to do with the body, there is no way that the wife would let me cook it even if it was safe to do so.

shadowdragon

I wouldnt bury it thats for sure, might get dug up by preditors. you could burn the carcass or shove it in the dustbin (dustbin is good if its near collection time to stop the smell ect)

Spirit_2

Sorry to hear about your chook. Are the others OK - no symptoms? I will try and find you links to sites that help with diagnosing chicken ailments. This is helpful in deciding whether to home treat or take to vet .

If others are poorly I would consult a vet rather than risk losing more.

With regard to disposal - definately do not eat or feed to anything.

We were recently advised by a Defra Vet that we should call someone who is licensed to deal with animal by products (used to be "knackers":eek:) to collect a chicken carcase and take for disposal (cremation). At considerable cost per chicken small scale chicken keepers are never going to do this.

We triple bag the deceased and put them in the bin.

Spirit

Spirit_2

http://poultryone.com/forum

http://www.omlet.co.uk/guide

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/forums


http://search.ur.msstate.edu/cgi-bin/htsearch?cs=&q=poultry+disease&ch=http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/disaid.htm&fm=off

The last link is really helpful for backyard chicken keepers as it is easy to follow but scientifically sound. " Clicking on the body part or organ will link to some of the more common causes and ultimately to discussion of many related diseases, causes, and treatments".

Good luck

Spirit

Herr_Schmitt

Thanks for the advice.

None of the others are showing any signs or symptoms.

We are not sure if it is the same bird that was not very well when we first got them, my 8 year old son will know but he stayed at the grandparents last night so doesnt know any of this yet.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i am really sorry to hear about your chicken, but not to sound harsh, but when you have live stock, you are going to get dead stock too.( sorry to say)

i personally wouldnt worry about your other chickens as long as they look ok, and are acting normal in their own quirky way.

If this was my chicken and she hadnt long started laying, i would put it down to that, maybe egg bound, or something to do with the egg laying, which i think does happen.

I personally wouldnt put the chicken into your general rubbish bin, as these days even your general rubbish in some councils go through a recycling process, of being opened and put onto a convayor belt and sorted....not very nice for the sorters, and not a nice place for your pet chicken to end up.....

I lost a pet chicken a week or so ago, she drowned in the new run where we put a small pond for the ducks... so we buried her in the corner of the plot..... this is what you would do with any other pet.

If you were a smallholder/farmer or commercial breeder etc then you would have to pay and be part of a dispoal service, which suposed to be a more hygenic may of disposing of dead animals, BUT i know of farmers that have waited serval days for carcasses to be removed, but by this time... they have been more of an enviromet issue by the smell and decompsing...( sorry going totally ott off track)

As for your little one, this is hard trying to tell them a pet has died.... couldnt you tell them that its motehr came to take it home or something ?

robpw2

Herr_!!!!!!t wrote: »

Just been down to let the chickens out to find one of the Babcock's dead in a nesting box. She had been off her food yesterday and keeping herself away from the other 5. My wife said she felt very thin when she picked her up.

My question is, could it be something infectious and is there any obvious signs we should be looking for? She wasnt that old and had only been laying for about 5 weeks. The coop is kept clean and my wife had disinfected it last weekend.

Also, any ideas of what to do with the body, there is no way that the wife would let me cook it even if it was safe to do so.

oh sorry to hear that

its a shame that you cant cook it but im sure burial is the best option

choille

Yes - I too say the 'if you have livestock, you get deadstock.'

It's sad, but one of those things if you keep animals.

Certainly don't eat anything that's died, unless you are starving to death.

I'd bury it - a good few feet down, so vermin don't get its scent & unearth it.

If the others look fine - that's great. Often looking at droppings tells you something's not right, but often not - sometimes it's a mystery - can be genetic weakness.

If I look at books with lists of diseases I find them quite disturbing, but often a lot of chicken diseases are more likely in intensive chicken farming situations - which make diseases more likely.

It's a good idea to worm your hens once a year. Stuff for that can be bought from a vet in bulk - to do the lot. Some worming treatments mean that the eggs are not to be eaten for a few days, so you have to check that.

Every so often I crush a couple of garlic cloves and add that to the water feeder - a good useful treatment for intestinal worms & quite safe - doesn't taint the eggs & can be done whether they have any or not.