Bummed - lost one of my babies

[jmw1170]

I am sooo bummed out! I lost one of my grey speckled game chickens last night.

I came home from work and she could hardly stand up. She was acting like she was drunk. Bless her heart she would try to come to me, but just couldn't walk. This morning, I went out to feed them and check on her and she died during the night

I raised these two from 1-2 week old chicks so I really got attached to them, I was out in the dark this morning digging a hole to bury it. She was a good chick.


She is the one on the right - RIP Weezie!

But on a good note, we have a new hen. The kids have named her Lacy, Rosey, Hashbrown and now we are talking about calling her nugget. She isn't much on us handling her since we did not raise her from a chick.

 

[GuppyTJ]

I"m so sorry for your loss. It's hard because they are such sweet animals.

Regarding the symptoms, there are several illnesses/diseases that can cause mobility/walking problems. One of the more common and unfortunately deadly as you experienced, is Marek's. Did you happen to look up the symptoms of Marek's by chance? Just google "marek's in chickens" or "marek's symptoms" and you'll get lots of links with great information from reputable sources like universities, county extension offices and academic studies. Several of these sites have pictures of how the illness affects the chicken and you can look for videos to see if this is what your chicken's walking problems looked like.

I think you may want to try to figure out what took her so you'll know if it's contagious. Some of these diseases are easily transmitted and deadly. Some are treatable in case another chicken comes down with it, some are not. But either way, narrowing down what your chicken might have had may help you be better prepared in case you see it again in another chicken.

Hope this helps,
Guppy