Just like us humans , Gallus gallus start to show wear and tear as they reach sophisticated historic period . It ’s natural , but — also like with us man — maintaining the wellness of maturate hens is n’t as easy as caring for saltation volaille !
Some conditions of Gallus gallus are slow to formulate , becoming seeming in aging backyard biddy hold on well past their efflorescence . Here are a few such ailment that may appear in older hens .
1. Pendulous Crop
weeping cropcan issue from a loss of muscle tone as a crybaby ages .
Thecropbecomes so fully distended that the muscle get stretched beyond their power to bounce back . The morethe biddy eats and drinks , the more the craw bump . finally , the squishy , baggy pipe organ hangs down and swings back and forth like a pendulum .
In time , the harvest muscles may become so severely adulterate they ca n’t return to normal .
Some hen get along quite well despite having a distended crop . However , because the crop never amply empties , digestion may be impaired . In these face , the condition eventually moderate to boniness and death .
2. Fatty Liver Syndrome
The most common noninfectious cause of sudden death in backyard laying hens isfatty liver syndrome .
When a hen get down laying egg , fat accumulates in her liver . This makes the electric organ soft , with a pallid yellow color compared to the liver of a cock the same age .
Although this alteration to the liver is normal , in nearly all caseful of decease due to fatty liver syndrome , the unfortunate hen are to a fault fatty .
Deaths most often happen during the summer , when a biddy ’s pauperism for dietetical energy decreases but she is fed too much energy relative to protein . ( In other words , she gets too many grain treats ) .
Also , summer warmth can give former hens disinclined to practise enough to burn off excess large calorie .
3. Osteoporosis
Osteoporosisoccurs when the ivory become brickly and fragile and fracture more easily .
This circumstance typically occurs to a really good laying biddy that produces an egg about every day , but does n’t absorb enough dietary atomic number 20 .
Calcium is extradite in the form of large - particleoyster shellor limestone granules . The mineral puts a tough shell around each ball . When calcium is low , a hen will apply up a considerable amount of skeletal calcium to form each eggshell .
As a consequence , the hen step by step loses geomorphological bone throughout her productive life sentence . She will eventually have difficultness standing and walking .
If the biddy is otherwise sizeable , during periods when she ’s not repose eggs , her trunk reduces the yield of estrogen . This allows her to resume forming morphologic bone , restoring some forte to her skeletal structure .
4. Marek’s Disease
Marek’sis cause by a herpesvirus that primarily infects unseasoned and growing chicken but can also affect senesce hen . It is so common that you’re able to safely adopt your chickens have Marek ’s virus , even if they do n’t show any sign of contagion .
The virus can stay dormant in a hen ’s consistence , causing slow - growing tumors that produce no other mansion until they become so massive in an age bird that the chicken can not survive .
Fayoumis , with their radical - strong constitution , are repellent to Marek ’s disease .
Sebrights and Silkies , on the other manus , tend to be peculiarly susceptible . So are some strains of Polish , among other fancy breeds .
5. Tuberculosis
Avian T.B. is a chronic bacterial disease that spreads slowly from one chicken to another and learn a prospicient time to develop . It impress chickens that pluck in ground , feed or water that has been contaminated by the droppings of septic chickens or other septic animals .
It is especially prevalent in the Midwestern land where chickens free - chain , are kept in multi - age sight or are housed in inter-group communication with sheep or pigs .
The distinctive sign of ATB is a gradual free weight loss while eating well , resulting in gauntness and finally death . ( This condition is get it on as going light ) .
No effective treatment is know .
6. Heart Failure
Heart unsuccessful person can afflict older crybaby and has many dissimilar causes . Sometimes it ’s not just one braggy thing but an accruement of lesserthings over the years .
A chicken ’s high metabolic charge per unit naturally place great focus on its heart . The poulet ’s heart rate can be as eminent as 400 beats per minute , compared to a human ’s tenderness rate of 60 to100 beats per minute .
To handle the greater strain , the sizing of a volaille ’s kernel proportional to its trunk mass is about 0.8 pct , compared to a human ’s heart size to organic structure mass of about 0.6 percent .
Despite this adaptation , tumors or excess body fatness that cause breathing difficulty can restrictoxygen intake and make the heart puzzle out harder . For today ’s pampered backyard hens , guarding against corpulency is a major gradation toward preventing heart unsuccessful person .
This story originally come out in the November / December 2019 issue ofChickensmagazine .
