Turning sadness to a learning experience

[SmiYa0126]

I'm so sorry for your loss .

 

[triciayoung]

I am so sorry for your pain. No matter what, you gave her the best life she could have while she was with you. Most chickens don't get to live with one of us members, they live a life of torture on factory farms.

 

[fuzzi]

I'm so sorry. You tried to help her, don't be so hard on yourself.

 

[duskypassion]

I became a chicken mama to 4 pullet girls last October (Cream Legbar, Cinnamon Queen, Sapphire Olive Egger, Lavender Orpington). The CL started laying in December, The CQ and SOE in Jan while the LO started in Feb. Mid March the LO laid a huge double yolk (looked like the size of a duck egg), I went out of town for work. Hubby said that after that she dropped a few soft eggs the next two weeks then nothing. This was similar to the SEO but she’s laying normal eggs now so he wasn’t concerned. When I came home I noticed something was very off with the LO. She had very watery poo, was drawn to eating snow or any dripping water. She seemed to be eating but was not as pushy as the others, I didn’t see her drink from the main source so I put in a separate water dish for her but she was not interested. Worried she was really sick I isolated her from the flock, gave her an epsom salt bath/soak, did an egg bound check and gently palpitated her abdomen and did not feel anything unusual. I added Flock Leader 911 to her water and administered small drops of it via syringe which she tolerated. Did this for 3 days and she seemed to recover. She began drinking and eating on her own. Two more days and I took her outside to roam with the others, she kept up, was foraging, eating, drinking and roosting with them as if she was well. This past Saturday she again was behaving like a normal chicken until I went to lock them up for the evening. I had to hunt for her, she was under the coop standing in the corner like she was paralyzed. I gently scooped her to me and placed her in the roost. She would lay down, and stand up repeatedly then went directly under the others. Fearful she was going to get pooped on I gently placed her on the lower roosting bar and continued watching her. She tried to stretch out on the roosting bar, so I brought her inside again. Noticed that the watery poo was very yellow and she smelled like vomit. Another epsom salt bath, 911 via syringe and let her rest. She stood the entire night. Sunday afternoon was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. She was pacing in the dog kennel and wanted out when I opened the door to check on her. Thinking fresh air and sunshine would do her some good I let her out, she did well, followed the rest of the flock around the yard then she went off on her own and laid against my retaining wall in the shade and on the snow and appeared to be napping. 4pm I put the others in the run for dinner and noticed the LO was still laying in the snow. She was breathing heavy, her eyes closed. I gently brought her inside and placed her back in the kennel as I mixed up another batch of 911. 430pm armed with my iPad and chats with local vets and liquids I went to tend to her and she had passed. It breaks my heart because I don’t know what happened or what I should have done differently. My three other girls have normal poo, are eating and drinking.

RIP my sweet Willow.
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I am so sorry about your sweet girl. I am a new chicken mama as well, my girls just hit two years old yesterday actually. One of my Rhode Island Red hens started laying liquid eggs about six months after she started laying. She laid nothing but liquid eggs for quite some time. I took her to the vet and they couldn’t find anything wrong with her. I kept fearing for the day that I would find her deceased in her coop. When she had her first molt, something must have reset her system because she suddenly started laying hard eggs again and she’s been great ever since. I am not sure how I’m going to handle the death of my first chicken either because I love them so much!

 

[lsatt]

Thank you. It is because we develop a bond with these girls. I have no issue dispatching a rodent, or a rabbit but cried when I found her motionless. I still tear up and pray she didn’t suffer because of our naivety or unintentional negligence. I’m monitoring my other girls so closely now for any signs of something off.

I’m sorry to hear about Willow. We are having a similar situation with one of our Buff Orps although she seems to be coming around. I to feel that if something happens to her, I should send the other two to live with my son, that I don’t have the knowledge to give appropriate care to these beautiful birds. Thank goodness for this group as there is always someone that has dealt with a particular situation and is willing to help a newbie like me