Basia St Clair
Songster
Y'all, I'm devastated. I'm new to chicken ownership. I was not going to get attached, yet name my chickens. Both happened. I'm attached and I have (had) 4 beautiful baby chicks from TSC. 2 Asian Black and 2 I.S.A. Brown.
There is tons of amazing information on this forum. Unfortunately, one of the things it cant prepare you for is loosing your first chicken. I want to know what happened. I want to go back in time and put a camera in the coop. I cried! My boyfriend had to get her out of the coop because I couldn't even look at the lifeless body. BUCK UP, Buttercup. Welcome to chicken ownership!
I made a few mistakes due to my lack of knowledge. I didn't even know what to do with a dead chicken! Do I bury it? Throw it in the woods? Take it to the vet?
Bury it won out. I put a little cross of sticks on her grave. Her name was Finger.
Long story, longer. Finger was always a little aggressive. She was kinda a pushy, bully. I had suspicions that she might be a he. She would literally push the other birds off the perch sometimes.
Two nights ago the girls reluctantly march up their ladder to go into the coop. They were all healthy looking, happy. Nothing suspicious at all. Next morning when I open the poop door out walk 3 chickens. UH OH! Don't look, don't look, don't do it.....you have to do it.........and there she was, lifeless on the floor of the coop.
. I ran to get my boyfriend, crying the entire time I'm telling him about her. He carried her out of the coop and we buried her without looking her over good.......because....because i was so upset I wasn't thinking straight.
After about 2 hours of trying to settle down and "thinking" (overthinking?), I start searching the internet. Holy Cow can chickens die from a lot of stuff. I freak out.
Run to TSC and pick up new bedding, straw, sand, medicated food, vitamins, electrolytes, treats, grit, lice and mite spray, I attempt to look over the 3 remaining chickens for mites/lice. I try to look at their vents. My poor babies are freaking out because I'm freaking out and I truly have no idea what I'm doing. I clean the coop and run. I spray the coop and run. I spray the poor traumatized chickens. I changed their perch.
The first night i couldn't sleep. I was certain I would wake up to more dead chickens. I was certain a predator had breached the coop (despite all the other chickens looking perfectly fine). I was certain the coop was so mite infested nothing could survive in there. What about ventilation? Is the hard ware cloth at the top not enough? I checked on the birds 3 times late into the night.
After calming down, educating myself, I looked at my other babies. There is no evidence of mites/lice. The last two days the remaining birds seem extremely happy and healthy. They are eating, playing, running, drinking.....and just generally being their normal selves. I hate to say it - but they seem happier, less stressed without Finger around. They did seem a little agitated the first day (not sure if it was because of the missing bird or me (see above paragraph)) but that last two days they are better than ever. They all happily marched into the coop last night and promptly jumped on the perch for a good nights sleep. They are perky this morning.
I will never know how Finger passed. I wish I looked at her more thoroughly, but its too late for that. There were some of her feathers in the coop when I cleaned it out. No evidence of predators. There was a very small bald spot on her neck. Did the other birds get sick of her and peck her? I've looked at snakes in coop and it really didn't seem to be that either. After all my research there is an option for a chicken autopsy (chicken necropsy). I'm not sure I would take that step unless it seemed all the chickens were sick.
Anyway. I hear this all part of it but it sure was difficult. I am purchasing a camera - looking for suggestion for a battery powered camera that does not require wifi a as there is no signal where i live. It would be as a "after the fact" thing, not a live monitor thing).
So another milestone in chicken ownership.......even with this it is such an exciting adventure.......my next milestone - my first egg?
There is tons of amazing information on this forum. Unfortunately, one of the things it cant prepare you for is loosing your first chicken. I want to know what happened. I want to go back in time and put a camera in the coop. I cried! My boyfriend had to get her out of the coop because I couldn't even look at the lifeless body. BUCK UP, Buttercup. Welcome to chicken ownership!
I made a few mistakes due to my lack of knowledge. I didn't even know what to do with a dead chicken! Do I bury it? Throw it in the woods? Take it to the vet?
Bury it won out. I put a little cross of sticks on her grave. Her name was Finger.
Long story, longer. Finger was always a little aggressive. She was kinda a pushy, bully. I had suspicions that she might be a he. She would literally push the other birds off the perch sometimes.
Two nights ago the girls reluctantly march up their ladder to go into the coop. They were all healthy looking, happy. Nothing suspicious at all. Next morning when I open the poop door out walk 3 chickens. UH OH! Don't look, don't look, don't do it.....you have to do it.........and there she was, lifeless on the floor of the coop.
. I ran to get my boyfriend, crying the entire time I'm telling him about her. He carried her out of the coop and we buried her without looking her over good.......because....because i was so upset I wasn't thinking straight.After about 2 hours of trying to settle down and "thinking" (overthinking?), I start searching the internet. Holy Cow can chickens die from a lot of stuff. I freak out.
Run to TSC and pick up new bedding, straw, sand, medicated food, vitamins, electrolytes, treats, grit, lice and mite spray, I attempt to look over the 3 remaining chickens for mites/lice. I try to look at their vents. My poor babies are freaking out because I'm freaking out and I truly have no idea what I'm doing. I clean the coop and run. I spray the coop and run. I spray the poor traumatized chickens. I changed their perch.The first night i couldn't sleep. I was certain I would wake up to more dead chickens. I was certain a predator had breached the coop (despite all the other chickens looking perfectly fine). I was certain the coop was so mite infested nothing could survive in there. What about ventilation? Is the hard ware cloth at the top not enough? I checked on the birds 3 times late into the night.
After calming down, educating myself, I looked at my other babies. There is no evidence of mites/lice. The last two days the remaining birds seem extremely happy and healthy. They are eating, playing, running, drinking.....and just generally being their normal selves. I hate to say it - but they seem happier, less stressed without Finger around. They did seem a little agitated the first day (not sure if it was because of the missing bird or me (see above paragraph)) but that last two days they are better than ever. They all happily marched into the coop last night and promptly jumped on the perch for a good nights sleep. They are perky this morning.
I will never know how Finger passed. I wish I looked at her more thoroughly, but its too late for that. There were some of her feathers in the coop when I cleaned it out. No evidence of predators. There was a very small bald spot on her neck. Did the other birds get sick of her and peck her? I've looked at snakes in coop and it really didn't seem to be that either. After all my research there is an option for a chicken autopsy (chicken necropsy). I'm not sure I would take that step unless it seemed all the chickens were sick.
Anyway. I hear this all part of it but it sure was difficult. I am purchasing a camera - looking for suggestion for a battery powered camera that does not require wifi a as there is no signal where i live. It would be as a "after the fact" thing, not a live monitor thing).
So another milestone in chicken ownership.......even with this it is such an exciting adventure.......my next milestone - my first egg?
