- Thread starter
- #21
- Feb 27, 2016
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Thank you so much for the kind words. I keep trying to tell myself we have been blessed to have had her this long and that she is just an elderly little girl. We have been holding her all day. She is in a very deep sleep. I did try to put some droplets of water on her beak with no success then juice from watermelon since that is her favorite with no success, then I put a dab of yogurt on the side of her beak which twice she did get a tiny tiny bit only because occasionally she does wake up for a split second. I know I should make this decision but at this point should I be more forceful with water or am I to let her just not drink or eat anything.? She doesn't appear to be in any pain. I believe she would at least drink if she could stay awake but I want her to pass peacefully but at the same time I don't want to neglect her. I am not sure what to do.Please don't be hard on yourself. It's entirely possible that you had nothing to do with this and it's just the natural progression of whatever is going on with her. I have worked really hard on trying to save some of my birds only to find out at necropsy that it was really out of my hands, nothing I did was going to make a difference. But I had to try. It's really hard sometimes to know exactly what's going on. I've had birds live that long, and you get very, very attached. When they begin to fail, I just make them as comfortable as I can, that can mean different things for different birds. Some I leave with the flock because I know that is where they are happy, some I isolate, so they can have calm and quiet. Depending on what is going on I decide whether to let things happen naturally, or whether to euthanize to prevent suffering. There is no one right answer. I know it's really hard, and you will miss her. She was loved, and well cared for, she made it to 13 which is really, really good for a chicken. You should not feel guilty.
