Dead chicken...depressed to death??

[beccaboo254]

Several days ago our puppy got the gate to the run open because I didn't check the latch. She slightly injured my bantam Cornish which in turn caused a prolapse. We tried treating it ourselves, failed, and took her to the vet, but it was too severe to have a good prognosis. So we put her down.

Later that day, my Silkie started acting weird. She'd make a strange squawk and wander around sadly. She also didn't lay for two days and no amount of greens or blueberries could entice her to eat. She was still preening and dust bathing. Yesterday she started trying to set on the EE's egg so I thought maybe she was going broody. When I checked on her this afternoon, she was dead. My other chicken is acting totally normal. It seems really coincidental that she got sick. It's hard to check a Silkie vent but when I checked yesterday she didn't seem egg bound. Can a chicken get depressed, stop eating or drinking and die? It's been cooler than normal here so I don't think it was heat. Other than not eating and making the sad noises, she was moving around fine.

What could have happened?!

 

[sourland]

Any possibility that she may have suffered internal injuries from the puppy? I seriously doubt that chickens die of depression.

 

[Mermaid909]

I am so sorry for your loss. With animals stress can cause so many issues that death can occur. I have seen it so many times with dogs, almost as if the surviving dog just can not make it without his friend. I do not have enough experience with chickens to say this can happen, but with other animals, yes, I have seen it. Is it possible the puppy injured the silkie also?

 

[beccaboo254]

I wasn't saying she died of depression. She quit eating and drinking. It's possible she was injured but she was out of the run when I got out there and didn't act the slightest bit hurt. I checked her body and there are no signs of injury or trauma. Her only outward symptoms were the forlorn "brawk" which is different than her normal cry, and she would eat anything, including her favorites. She still took a dirt bath yesterday though. I've just never seen anything like this is a chicken. My EE is fine (alone though). So I'm 99% sure it's not disease. I'm just so shocked. :-(

 

[beccaboo254]

I guess I meant could she be depressed enough from the loss to stop eating and drinking completely?