[threeranger]

Hello,

You may remember our Light Sussex being a bit under the weather: http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=63272.0

She had been up and down, but died this morning....so we never did get another egg.

Our other 3 chickens are fine and have never shown any sign of the problems she had, so they don't appear to be contagious.

Over the last 3 months  she had just become subdued but with enough occasional promising moments to make us think she was on the mend. She never seemed seriously ill, just stopped laying after only 6 eggs. She had lice at one point but frontline swiftly fixed those. There were no colds, sneezes, respiratory problems, and her appetite was always fine even yesterday. No blooming poos (but a few grim ones).  We tried worming, frontline, bathing, patience for moulting etc, but in the end she quickly went downhill in the space of about 12 hours.

As she hadn't come across as seriously ill we hadn't gone to a vets (hindsight eh - we were on the verge of doing so having worked through the usual self service treatments). This leaves us not knowing what was wrong and wondering about a post mortem, just so we know....

Is a post mortem something that an amateur can attempt and discover anything, or just leave it to a pro instead ? I'm ok with guts so that part is fine....i'm also ok with saying it's just one of those things if my untrained eye is unlikely to gleem anything from the experience !

Also, what is the general consensus - bury or garden incinerator ? I'm thinking cremate so that any possible infections and stuff are burnt away and not festering underground.

Thanks for your support and help :-)

Threeranger

[daisy1990]

the basic premise of a post mortem is that you have to recognise normal anatomy to recognise abnormal.  Unless therefore you have a sound working knowledge of a hen's anatomy, you are most unlikely to spot a cause of death.  I would think burning the carcass would be the safest bet (burial I think is risky as other animals may dig the body up)

Hope this helps and sorry to hear about your loss

[threeranger]

I'd be confident on finding the crop, but not a lot else, so perhaps just have to let this one go as a mystery....