Dead Silkie Hen

[Sky_Chickens]

Hi everyone!

I want to start by saying this is probably the wrong place to put this ask but I really don’t know where else to put it I don’t use this very much but I couldn’t find any categories related to chicken death. I’m really sorry if this is in the completely wrong discussion zone.

Moving on, this morning one of my Silkie Hens, Mrs Splash, who was ironically blue, was found dead. She was about 9 months.

Yesterday I saw her outside and she wasn’t looking too well, she was really easy to push over and super sluggish in her lower half, also she was a little skinny. She seemed really aware though so I wasn’t super concerned because this was basically the same situation that happened with my other Silkie who I posted about here as well, ‘she’ (who was really a he) ended up surviving so I went and pulled out my Vitamins that I used for him and gave them to her. Along with that I gave some to one of my other Silkie Hens as she gets mated with a lot and has weaker legs.

When my brother went out this morning to let everyone out he found her dead by the waterer. I don’t have any pictures but it looked like she had regurgitated the vitamins back up? I’m not really sure. Her beak was filled with what I’m pretty sure was the Vitamin E tablet I could also see bits of the vitamin B Complex.

I had given her this stuff before and she took it no issue, I’ve already done a health check on my other pretty ladies and they are all fine psychically, my other hen named Madam Screech seems a little upset and she keeps looking around. Do chickens grieve? They spent a lot of time together as Madam Screech has been broody on and off these past few months since she laid her first egg and Mrs Splash tended to stay inside more often than not. Along with that her other flock-mate Mrs Puffle is staying inside more and crying.

Long story short my questions are;

Do chickens grieve or try to look for missing/dead flock-mates? If so how can I help them and is it possible for them to grieve themselves to death? I almost had a cat do this once which is why I’m asking.

How can I keep this from happening again? I’m almost positive she had a bad reaction to the vitamins but they where vitamins she had taken just fine before this using the exact same method of opening her beak and putting it in closer to the throat and her crop seemed just fine before she took it.

I feel awful because I’m pretty sure I killed her my brother and I loved her so much, since she usually stayed inside we called her our little house keeper. She was so sweet. I just want to keep this from happening again.

I’ve put some pictures of her here she was camera shy, literally, whenever I pulled out a phone she ran away but here’s some photos so everyone can see how cute she was, you have to really look though as I said she loved to hide

 

[TillyPeeps]

Not necessarily, but possible. The hole you see at the back of the throat is the trachea. It goes to the lungs. Very common mistake. Sounds like she choked on the meds and hacked them up, but may have been too late. On either side of the beak are channels down which food go into the crop and thence into the "stomach" area for digestion. I'm not using my own phone so I don't have a graphic but maybe @aart will post hers. I'm so sorry this happened but you mustn't blame yourself, you didn't know. To pill a chicken, just put the tablet or whatever in the beak and they will swallow it. Not like a cat or dog where you have to really get it back there behind the tongue or they push it back out.

Here is a great article about how to give chicken meds and it also shows the picture of the hole leading to trachea:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[TillyPeeps]

Thank you so much for your help! This whole thing has sucked but at least I’m able to learn from it thank you again!

I'm very sorry this happened to you and you chicken. Unfortunately, we all make mistakes and have to learn from it. When it comes to chickens, it's even harder since informations about them are not easy to be found. BYC is one of the most reliable sources, but you still need to do research about the answers you get here.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@Sky_Chickens you also asked if chickens grieve. I can't directly answer that, except to say that sometimes they certainly appear to. For this I would like to defer to two people who know more about chicken behavior and psychology than anyone else I know of here on BYC: @Shadrach and @Ridgerunner .

I'd be interested to see what @Shadrach has to say. He is more familiar with smaller flocks than I am.

Chickens are prey animals that flock together. As they evolved they developed an ability to move on when one was lost, otherwise the entire flock would be at risk. Losing one, especially one higher in the pecking order, can affect the entire flock but usually not for long. They tend to get over it quickly. It is a survival mechanism. If a broody hen loses one or more of her chicks she keeps taking care of the others. She may look for a lost one or cluck to try to attract it but she tends to not obsess over it. She does not want to lose the others. And if she loses them all she is usually over it in a day or two.

However they can form bonds. Each chicken has its individual personality. I often see cliques within the flock where two or three form their own sub-group and hang together within the flock. And may even leave the flock for short trips together.

From what I've seen there is very little grieving as we would describe it but you can have a few that appear affected for a day or two.

 

[Shadrach]

Do chickens grieve or try to look for missing/dead flock-mates?

I believe they do. I believe their range is similar to ours, while we don't often like to face the fact; here today, gone tomorrow.
Some in my experience are for want of a better description, more emotional than others. There isn't any foundation in the belief that humans are the only creatures on the planet capable of such feelings. You're left with to what degree and what sort of range. Nobody who has researched, studied, kept, chickens, doubts for very long that they do feel, but nobody really knows how much.
I've had grieving chickens of both sexes. Nobody has convinced me otherwise. You can't help. They have to work through it just as we do.

How can I keep this from happening again?

You can't stop chickens dying and you can't avoid the fact that if you keep chickens you are likely to find they all die before you do. To know why Mrs Splash died and her brother, one would need to have a necropsy performed.
But, if you thought you killed her brother and now you think you may have killed Mrs Splash then you must have an idea of what went wrong (?)
Whatever you think you may have done wrong my advice is don't do it again, do something else.
I've read a bit about the possiblitly that a pill got lodged in her trachea. It seems a possible cause of death.

Fact is, a lot of chickens die from inadequate or inept health care. We often don't know what we are doing apart from trying to help the creature. Often it's the helping that does the damage or just extends a life of pain discomfort.

I have never known a chicken to die of grief. I've known them do other things, but not die.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@Sky_Chickens you also asked if chickens grieve. I can't directly answer that, except to say that sometimes they certainly appear to. For this I would like to defer to two people who know more about chicken behavior and psychology than anyone else I know of here on BYC: @Shadrach and @Ridgerunner .

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

Sorry for your loss.
As for your question about if chickens grieve, yes they do. I have witnessed it with my Light Brahmas when one of them died. Puff and Fluff mourned Muff's death for quite awhile.

 

[Sky_Chickens]

Not necessarily, but possible. The hole you see at the back of the throat is the trachea. It goes to the lungs. Very common mistake. Sounds like she choked on the meds and hacked them up, but may have been too late. On either side of the beak are channels down which food go into the crop and thence into the "stomach" area for digestion. I'm not using my own phone so I don't have a graphic but maybe @aart will post hers. I'm so sorry this happened but you mustn't blame yourself, you didn't know. To pill a chicken, just put the tablet or whatever in the beak and they will swallow it. Not like a cat or dog where you have to really get it back there behind the tongue or they push it back out.

Thank you so much All the pictures and diagrams I’ve seen made it look like that wasn’t something that could happen. I’ll make sure to keep this in mind next time I have to give my babies medicine!

 

[Sky_Chickens]

@Sky_Chickens you also asked if chickens grieve. I can't directly answer that, except to say that sometimes they certainly appear to. For this I would like to defer to two people who know more about chicken behavior and psychology than anyone else I know of here on BYC: @Shadrach and @Ridgerunner .

Thank you so much for your help! This whole thing has sucked but at least I’m able to learn from it thank you again!

 

[Sky_Chickens]

Sorry for your loss.
As for your question about if chickens grieve, yes they do. I have witnessed it with my Light Brahmas when one of them died. Puff and Fluff mourned Muff's death for quite awhile.

Thank you