Dead Silkie Hen

[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

 

[SmiYa0126]

I'm so sorry! When you dose, put it on the side of the beak and watch her swallow.

 

[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.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

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.

Thank you, RR.

 

[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]

Thank you, @Shadrach.