First time terminating a hen due to illness

[featherhead007]

Tough call! But you did right by your feathered friend. I love my birds too, very much. I had my rooster "Peeps" die in my arms. And darn right it hurts. We need not blame ourselves for having human compassion.

 

[ajackalope]

Stop second guessing yourself. I used to work for a really large vet practice that also did all the specialty stuff. I was in the pharmacy right next to oncology and one of my jobs was to dispense the euthansia solution so I heard all the stories about the "whys" for putting an animal down. We had a tech (actually a Dr's wife that was a tech) that did some informal grief councilling and she told clients numerous times that once you make the decision it is always for the best. The worst thing you can do is to keep trying new things in desperation because then it is for you and not your pet. I live in fear for the time I have to put one of my girls down. Two of them have died on their own but this summer I lost a chick for the first time and I was heartbroken trying to figure out if there was anything I could have done. Even my vet (and we are lucky to have both a Dr at the practice I go to and a house call practice that treats chickens) said at that age (7days) there is nothing to be done. I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[ajackalope]

Tough call! But you did right by your feathered friend. I love my birds too, very much. I had my rooster "Peeps" die in my arms. And darn right it hurts. We need not blame ourselves for having human compassion.

 

[ajackalope]

If you have no compassion you should not have animals of any type. I'm glad Peeps had you. I used to get emotionally attached to my angel fish.

 

[featherhead007]

Who wouldn't get emotionally attached to angel

 

[Quackter]

My once best laying hen, Sugar has had a rough summer. It started out when she had a dust up with our new ducks. She tried to do a Karate kid maneuver when she and the duck met in a narrow area by the gate while there was food around...and the chaos ensued. I had a thread about that here too - she jumped up, came down...and from that point forward limped heavily. Over the next few weeks she got mobile again and continued to lay the most amazing and beautiful eggs. She was known to lay some whopper huge eggs from time to time, but generally even through her leg injury stayed consistent. She was just over two years old.

We noticed a couple of months ago she laid two "fart" eggs in a row. and after that nothing. Other than the limp she seemed healthy. Such a wonderful attitude. She had a way of talking to me totally different than the other girls whenever I walked by. She eventually made nice nice with the duck she got into a spat with, and has been peaceful since.

Please don't read any further if you don't care for graphic description of injury/issues.

I really hope I made the right choice here. Saturday morning I noticed she had dried blood and goo all down her backside. She was drinking water when I picked her up. Her entire rear was covered in maggots. I've never seen so many on a living creature. I took her in the shop sink and gently sprayed warm water on her washing them away. Back by her vent, she had a bulging thing about the size of the end of you thumb. Bloody. It smelled dead. I don't not how this happened so fast. I was just holding her the day before. I made sure this wasn't just maggots in old poopy butt. They were all rooting around deep in her tissue. As I rinsed, fresh blood started to flow. The maggots just kept coming out from deep in her tissue. My wife agreed it was too serious for us to treat and the swollen/tumor looking spot didn't look like something that would heal easily.

I made a decision she had to be put down as it appeared a severe infection, and if this was a tumor coming out/around her vent it would explain why she hasn't produced an egg since early June.

All my other hens either died on their own, or one I took at a vet to be put down.

I've read the forum plenty about the "best" way to do it. I ended up using a large pair of branch loppers. I still feel like crap about this - I hate myself for it really. I asked me wife to leave and let me handle it. The good news (if any) is they didn't severe her head off - there was only a little blood, but it just broke her neck and some how (maybe because they are worn out) folded her neck area over flat. Her body did the typical jerking reactions for a bit - I had my eyes closed. Just held the loppers until it stopped. If I have to put one down again, this is the way I'll do it. It wasn't messy and it was fast - probably just due to the condition of these exact loppers.

I don't wan't to ever do that again. I think I've cried more over this weekend than I have in a long time.

I've started to second guess myself. What if that was just from a freak fly larvae infestation from a poop but that I didn't catch and wash off...or maybe a minor injury that would have healed up after being washed out and treated. I just don't know. But I want to believe I did the right thing.

You did the right thing. You did what you could and then you didn't let her suffer.

 

[featherhead007]

Someone once said, "how can a duck hurt you" obviously that person has never been "Goosed" by one!

 

[TwoShepherds]

You did the right thing, and your chicken was fortunate to have a caring owner.

 

[micstrachan]

I’m so sorry. You absolutely, unequivocally did the right thing. But I know it still hurts (you). Hugs.

 

[feather236]