[Porkpie]

I'm looking for help to why one of my young Blackrock hens, about 32 wks old, who up until today was very healthy. I noticed she was very quiet, sat in corner of our large pen, i offered her food and she slowly moved into the roost and sat in a laying box.  I left her in there for about an hour and collected her and brought in the house.  When i picked her up the edge of her feathers felt dry, whislt carry her in, she pooed on my leg and noticed it was clear.  I brought her in the house, she was pretty lifeless, but her eyes were open and moving. I went outside to check the area where she pooed on me and oberserved it to be clear with a white streak about an inch long, i'm wondering if this was a tape worm.  Within the hour she died.  Can anybody offer me any advice on what happened to her, I am new to keeping chickens, she was one of my original hens I bought at point of lay.

[TeaPots]

chickens do wee, which looks a bit as you describe. Tape worm usually appear as segments, and are called 'tape' worm because they look more like tape than a worm. Did she have a full crop, was she thin under all her feathers? Has she laid for you at all? eggbound? need more info honey

And by the way...welcome to the forum, sorry it was something sad to get u to join us 

[Porkpie]

Hi teapot

thanks for the welcome.  I did'nt check her crop, I can still do so.  She was never a big bird but I would'nt say she was thin, I'm pretty sure she layed yesterday, but probably not today.  How can I tell if she was eggbound?

[Porkpie]

 It seems her crop was pretty full. 

[TeaPots]

Oh bless her! Egg bound symptoms are like straining in the nest box, and a swollen abdomen, but if she laid yest. cant be that. The thing is, for survival a chicken has to hide any sign of illness from the others, or they will be bullied to death. Because of this, often a chook can be poorly for a while, and we human beans dont know until nearly the end. One sign is a bird 'going light' which kinda means losing weight, for no obvious reason. They do die of heart attacks sometimes, but that would just be a sudden collapse. With no symptoms of cough, runny nose, weepy eyes, swollen feet or anything like that, I am sorry but I have no idea. I am sorry. Poor girl, but it was quick.

[joyfull]

hello Porkpie, sorry about your loss but without seeing your hen and the pooh nobody can tell you what was wrong with her. However I would keep a close eye on the rest of your girls just incase it was anything infectious.

[Manlea1]

Sorry to hear of your loss  cant help other than that as im still learning about chook keeping 

[Jeanette]

So sorry.

[Porkpie]

Thanks for all your help, I shall be keeping an eye on the rest of them.

[Trisha]

Sorry to hear of your loss.  How are the rest of the girls?  Well I hope !