# Mysterious Disease



## Courage (Sep 21, 2013)

One of my friends just sent me this email:

"Hi! So, one of our black stars is sick, but we don't know what's wrong. She's pretty much a skeleton, and between her keel and her vent is as hard as a rock.We thought she might be egg bound, but then her vent would be swollen and squishy, not swollen and hard. Just wondering if you had any ideas of what else it could be, or if she really is egg bound."

Symptoms listed here:
Weight Loss
Hard Abdomen

I looked through a bunch of chicken diseases, but couldn't find anything close. Any ideas? Cause? Treatment? Is it contagious? Prevention?

Hope you can help!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Really too vague. 

How old, when the last time the bird laid? Not sure what they're saying about that physical anomaly. There isn't much space between the breast bone and vent. Are they referring to abdomen itself? 

What about the crop, anything there?


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Yep. Could be an egg tumor in her abdomen causing her to be unable to eat or digest well due to crowding of her organs. Production birds are also prone to reproductive cancer, so it could even be a cancerous tumor. 

Either case, she needs to be culled as it will not resolve itself. It would be very interesting what they find in there. 

I culled a leghorn hen once, though she was not having any symptoms and was just too old to lay, and found an egg tumor big enough to fill my entire cupped hand. It was layers upon layers of yolk like material that was kind of macerated from being out in the abdomen...sort of a boiled egg looking thing but cheesier looking. To this day I still can't see how she was existing and healthy with that huge mass in her small body but I'm sure it would have eventually grown big enough to cause the symptoms you have described here. 

Could you keep us updated so that others can learn about these symptoms?


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## Courage (Sep 21, 2013)

@robin416 - I emailed her back asking her the questions that you suggested. Waiting for a reply.

@Bee - So, should I suggest to them to cull her? They've only ever before culled chicks with crossbeak and a rat with a giant tumor. I'm sure it's be hard for them...

And, sure, I'll keep you updated!


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Well...she will continue to grow thinner and thinner and they will just find her dead on the coop floor one morning. That's an option...but it's not a very kind one. 

They could take her to the vet if they are inclined to spend money on the situation.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Bee has already said what I suspect.


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## Courage (Sep 21, 2013)

She replied saying that the bird is about 2 years old, and they don't know when she produced her last egg, as they have many chickens and it's hard to know who laid what egg. She told me that she would watch for further symptoms. Should I suggest to them to quarantine her to watch her and see if she's laying eggs? Or would it be best to let the chicken stay with her friends so she doesn't get too stressed out?

She also said that the crop feels fine and she's eating normally.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Its completely up to them on what to do. She will not get better if it is internal laying. I'm not certain they'll just find her dead though. More like they'll find she's not acting right, slow, depressed, obviously not feeling well. If they don't want to put her down yet, then don't since she seems to be feeling OK at the moment. Its when it makes itself known that they will have to face the choice to either let her suffer or not.


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## Courage (Sep 21, 2013)

She emailed me again, saying that one of her d'Anvers is lethargic and skinny, and the small chicks aren't growing at all. I asked her if they were eating and drinking ok, and suggested to them to start feeding fermented feed, then I sent her the instructions to make it.

Ok, something is wrong with their flock. They have a total of about 40 chickens, so only a few are affected, but why is all of this happening all of a sudden?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

My first thought is something is wrong with the feed or the way they are feeding them.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Tell them to look up Lymphoid Leukosis. Doing this through someone else and not the actual bird owners its all a shot in the dark.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Courage said:


> She emailed me again, saying that one of her d'Anvers is lethargic and skinny, and the small chicks aren't growing at all. I asked her if they were eating and drinking ok, and suggested to them to start feeding fermented feed, then I sent her the instructions to make it.
> 
> Ok, something is wrong with their flock. They have a total of about 40 chickens, so only a few are affected, but why is all of this happening all of a sudden?


Needs to take the most affected bird to the vet for some blood testing. Could be anything at this point if it's affecting the whole flock. Could be something environmental where she lives...something in the water(heavy metals, arsenic, etc.), could be something similar in the soils, could be anything at all nowadays, with folks living in areas of high pollution and on our poisoned Earth.


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