KatieAnnFrench
Chirping
- Apr 5, 2019
- 36
- 34
- 81
I'm hoping to figure out why my 3 year old Amberlink hen died a few weeks ago, to prevent it from happening to my other chickens. Here is what happened:
Weekend: Amberlink and my one other hen (Buff Orpington, 3 years old) both appeared healthy, except that the Amberlink hasn't laid an egg in around 3 months.
Monday-Wednesday: My boyfriend and I were both away on business trips. Doesn't happen often, but it's happened before, and we filled the food and water feeders up, and locked up the coop, as usual. Temperatures were mild, 45-60 degrees.
Thursday: Amberlink hen didn't stand up when I opened the coop. Her beak was near the food dish, with some dried up feather/grass mixture on it. She barely lifted her head. The Orpington appeared healthy. I brought the Amberlink inside, and hand fed and watered her for a few hours. I gave her herbal tea (St. Johns Wort), yogurt, some wet feed, NutriDrench and sugar water to try and help her perk up, in case she hadn't been eating or drinking for 3 days. She perked up a bit and ate on her own a few times & pooped a bright yellow poop, but overall that was no change for a few hours, so upon recomendation I gave her a few drops of Duramyacin. She stood up a few times, but her eyes were closing off and on. I put her in a big rubbermaid bin with food and water and a blanket over it and let her sleep.
The next morning, she wouldn't/couldn't stand on her own. She didn't eat the food or drank the water I left out. I read that she might have an egg stuck, so I gave her a warm bath and tried to massage the potential egg out. She pushed out about 5 poops, and stood up half of the time.
While I was holding her in a towel after her bath, she had what I think was a heart attack in my arms. It was so scary and unexpected that I fell backwards on the bathroom floor! She squawked louder than she'd been all night/morning, and started seizing. In about 15 seconds, she was totally dead.
Later that day, I went into the coop to clean/disinfect everything for the Orpington. I decided to take out the heat plate that the waterer sits on, since the weather is warming up. When I lifted the heat plate, which sits on some bricks, a black RAT was sitting between the bricks! Looked like it'd been there for a few days. I then proceeded to inspect the coop & seal any holes.
I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what happened to my hen, so I can try to prevent it from happening again. I have the Orpington and 7 new chicks who I want to live happy, long lives. Thank you in advance
Weekend: Amberlink and my one other hen (Buff Orpington, 3 years old) both appeared healthy, except that the Amberlink hasn't laid an egg in around 3 months.
Monday-Wednesday: My boyfriend and I were both away on business trips. Doesn't happen often, but it's happened before, and we filled the food and water feeders up, and locked up the coop, as usual. Temperatures were mild, 45-60 degrees.
Thursday: Amberlink hen didn't stand up when I opened the coop. Her beak was near the food dish, with some dried up feather/grass mixture on it. She barely lifted her head. The Orpington appeared healthy. I brought the Amberlink inside, and hand fed and watered her for a few hours. I gave her herbal tea (St. Johns Wort), yogurt, some wet feed, NutriDrench and sugar water to try and help her perk up, in case she hadn't been eating or drinking for 3 days. She perked up a bit and ate on her own a few times & pooped a bright yellow poop, but overall that was no change for a few hours, so upon recomendation I gave her a few drops of Duramyacin. She stood up a few times, but her eyes were closing off and on. I put her in a big rubbermaid bin with food and water and a blanket over it and let her sleep.
The next morning, she wouldn't/couldn't stand on her own. She didn't eat the food or drank the water I left out. I read that she might have an egg stuck, so I gave her a warm bath and tried to massage the potential egg out. She pushed out about 5 poops, and stood up half of the time.
While I was holding her in a towel after her bath, she had what I think was a heart attack in my arms. It was so scary and unexpected that I fell backwards on the bathroom floor! She squawked louder than she'd been all night/morning, and started seizing. In about 15 seconds, she was totally dead.
Later that day, I went into the coop to clean/disinfect everything for the Orpington. I decided to take out the heat plate that the waterer sits on, since the weather is warming up. When I lifted the heat plate, which sits on some bricks, a black RAT was sitting between the bricks! Looked like it'd been there for a few days. I then proceeded to inspect the coop & seal any holes.
I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what happened to my hen, so I can try to prevent it from happening again. I have the Orpington and 7 new chicks who I want to live happy, long lives. Thank you in advance
