Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

She’s sleepy. Thinking I’ll not euthanize her at this point. She is not having difficulty breathing, or breathing quickly.
New information maybe - I just got her from the coop, she had moved to the doorway. She has shown interest in grit every day. Just now she went over to the grit, but then stood there pooping, only she kept trying. I didn’t see anything drop, so I looked, and there was a two inch pinky size poop hanging out. So I got a paper towel and was going to clean her up. I pulled on it and she bokked and I drew out an almost eight inch size thing, the poop was there but then narrowed to a long fibrous weedy thing that I was very tough. I tried to break it in two and couldn’t. So she has a problem with her gizzard maybe, or what?

She perked up quite a bit after that, and wanted to go out with the others and forage. She just ate two whole blueberries.

I might continue with the baby bird formula and also continue to see how she does. Thoughts?

I would save that and have the Vet check to see what it is, you can also try to cut it open to see that’s there.

Hopefully she will be better.

 

[featherhead007]

Only news I have from the western front, is Dakota is back out in the yard. (She protested about it)
But then Shenandoah jumped up on my lap and wanted something from me. I obliged her with some cold grapes and a few minutes indoors. (Private stash of meally worms)

 

[RoyalChick]

Thanks Bob. After I buried Louise, I sat out with the chickens for a long while and they were noticeably quieter than normal.

As we were carrying her body out to the spot I chose, all the ten week old teens were gathered on the knoll right there and it felt like the passing of the guard in a way.

It's interesting how often we hear about hens attacking their ill flockmates, but it wasn't like that at all. No one gave Louise so much as a peck when she was ailing. In her last week, she would sometimes go to roost early and often one of the other hens would come in early to sit with her. I loved to see that.

That has also been my experience. Several of my hens who have died have done so with a friend sitting with them or at least visiting.
I wrote about this when Eli died and how extraordinary it was how the flock treated her on her last day. I am of course very sad that Eli has left us, but I am glad I got to witness their behavior.

Read the section titled Eli's last day in my memorial posting.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26930660

 

[Ponypoor]

She’s still in the nest box, but now standing. I might move her into the warmth of the run. I want to give Butters a peaceful passing, and am thinking of just letting her go naturally. She hasn’t improved with tube feeding so I won’t do that anymore. If it’s heart failure or kidney failure, is that painful?

I have had patients with both and they have not complained about any pain; fatigue and lack of appetite.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Louise, our loved Buff Orpington hen died on her own last week. She slept the last two nights in a nest box. The day before she died, she stayed in the nest until 1:30 pm, then got up and had a bite to eat and a sip of water and later had some scratch with the flock.

A few days before she died, she was still slowly walking through tall grass, stopping to peck every now and then and didn't seem to be in distress. I could tell by the way she looked at me, that we both knew she would not have long.

My husband and I went back and forth on what was the best thing to do. Was she suffering? Would we cause more suffering if we botched trying to euthanize her? She had a swollen abdomen and walked slowly, but didn't seem to struggle to breathe, so we just made sure she was not being harassed by any of the other birds and gave her special foods on her own so she didn't have to join the scrum. She died overnight in her nest box last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. I had installed a camera so that I could keep an eye on her from work and I ended up with a bunch of still shots of each chicken paying their respects after she had died early in the morning.

I have questioned whether we did the right thing letting her pass on her own. I hope so.

I'm sorry for your loss, she sounds like a great hen.

If she kept moving I'm guessing the pain wasn't enough to stop her. If she wasn't having difficulty breathing either, she might have been comfortable enough. Even if you didn't botch it doing it yourselves, she might have picked up on your own tension. What you describe doesn't sound like how it ended up happening was bad.

In my case I would have a vet come, but even that, taking the sleeping meds by mouth, could be more distress, maybe unnecesary if she were to die relatively peacefully.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I have had patients with both and they have not complained about any pain; fatigue and lack of appetite.

Thank you for this information!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I'm so glad that you were able to help her!

I think it's important to monitor her poop. Is it possible that you bring her inside for 24 hours for monitoring? This way she also won't have access to long grass or straws during that time.

If she seems pooping normal, then maybe back to freeding? Unless she is already eating on her own. If not, then there could be crop or gizzard problems. You also want to feel her crop first thing in the morning.

In this up-and-down course of things now Butters has improved today. Since passing the fibrous strand she is eating a little better and acted much more comfortable. So I went ahead and tube-fed her, this time getting almost 30ml into her. Later, her energy was way better in the afternoon, and her interest in life perked up a lot. She was very interested in following Popcorn in foraging, but I don't think she is eating very much on her own. She did eat two tiny worm/centipedes and a little snail, and two more blueberries, actually hiking them back, not just mashing them around. Then she would lose interest. But the periods of being interested were more frequent. She was picking at the lawn greens but I don't know how much got in, definitely some baby's breath seeds did get in.

I saw her poop and looked at it - a very normal looking one, darker green than others but a fibrous tube-shaped poop. Good, way better than the urates-heavy drips she was pooping before.

Her crop moves along. So I suspect gizzard problems, which could spell doom but it doesn't seem imminent. I will keep checking it. What can be done for a gizzard that's not working well? Not grinding well?

 

[RoyalChick]

What can be done for a gizzard that's not working well? Not grinding well?

Make sure she has good grit and also oil in case there is stuff in there that still needs to move on through.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Could she have eaten something like plastic or twine?

It kind of did look like a flat piece of twine, but the only twine around here is plastic and light blue or orange and it definitely looked pale green and not plastic. I thought it was a flat stem, of something fibrous. I buried it with the poop in the litter, didn't have my phone on me. Later when @RoyalChick said a picture would be best I dug around where I thought I buried it and couldn't find it. Yes, Hazel was nearbby watching me dig, and maybe thought about helping but she probably decided it was too weird and she kept her distance...

 

[lightm]

In this up-and-down course of things now Butters has improved today. Since passing the fibrous strand she is eating a little better and acted much more comfortable. So I went ahead and tube-fed her, this time getting almost 30ml into her. Later, her energy was way better in the afternoon, and her interest in life perked up a lot. She was very interested in following Popcorn in foraging, but I don't think she is eating very much on her own. She did eat two tiny worm/centipedes and a little snail, and two more blueberries, actually hiking them back, not just mashing them around. Then she would lose interest. But the periods of being interested were more frequent. She was picking at the lawn greens but I don't know how much got in, definitely some baby's breath seeds did get in.

I saw her poop and looked at it - a very normal looking one, darker green than others but a fibrous tube-shaped poop. Good, way better than the urates-heavy drips she was pooping before.

Her crop moves along. So I suspect gizzard problems, which could spell doom but it doesn't seem imminent. I will keep checking it. What can be done for a gizzard that's not working well? Not grinding well?

That sounds really good. Again so happy that you did that for her!!

I have no experience in problematic gizzard at all though. However, a slow or bad functioning gizzard usually tends to slow crop too. So maybe it is just a one time thing?

Another idea I have is to look into molasses flush, which is to tube feed some water with molasses in it. It can flush out toxins in crop and gizzard. But perhaps do more research.

Hopefully there is no need to do more things if she keeps improving.