Hen died in my arms

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Dokdream

Chirping
Aug 24, 2023
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Two days ago, Friday, I saw my Wyandotte hen, Flora, favoring her foot; not putting weight on it and hobbling. I picked her up, saw a dark spot on her pad and a darkening on one toe. She was just at one year old. As a day-old chick, before I even got her, she had injured a toe on that foot which resulted in it being splayed, or twisted. I soaked the foot in Betadine, then applied Neosporin and wrapped it with gauze and open-weave medical tape. She was quiet and I put her in a private hutch overnight. in the morning, I saw that she had not moved and her vent area needd cleaning, which we did. We changed the dressing. I gave her a dose of a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Then I put her by food and water. She drank water, but not really interested in eating. She was unable to stand at all. I put her in an isolation box with straw bedding in our house. She was appearing weaker, but the dark spots were diminishing. This morning, she was weaker still, and I noted a slight raspiness when exhaling. Legs dangled. I cradled her in my arms. She beat her wings for a few seconds, then went limp and was dead. The other hens appear healthy so I don't think this was due to a communicable disease. I didn't notice mites or other sources of parasites. She hadn't been laying eggs for these few days. I don't know if there was a connection between that and this medical problem or not. We will bury Flora today. Maybe I did something wrong about the coop. More straw, change bedding more often --- I don't know. I didn't see anything that could have caused her to injure her foot. The girls do free-range. Any thoughts about what might have caused this, or what I needed to do differently?
 
Dokdream said:
Two days ago, Friday, I saw my Wyandotte hen, Flora, favoring her foot; not putting weight on it and hobbling. I picked her up, saw a dark spot on her pad and a darkening on one toe. She was just at one year old. As a day-old chick, before I even got her, she had injured a toe on that foot which resulted in it being splayed, or twisted. I soaked the foot in Betadine, then applied Neosporin and wrapped it with gauze and open-weave medical tape. She was quiet and I put her in a private hutch overnight. in the morning, I saw that she had not moved and her vent area needd cleaning, which we did. We changed the dressing. I gave her a dose of a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Then I put her by food and water. She drank water, but not really interested in eating. She was unable to stand at all. I put her in an isolation box with straw bedding in our house. She was appearing weaker, but the dark spots were diminishing. This morning, she was weaker still, and I noted a slight raspiness when exhaling. Legs dangled. I cradled her in my arms. She beat her wings for a few seconds, then went limp and was dead. The other hens appear healthy so I don't think this was due to a communicable disease. I didn't notice mites or other sources of parasites. She hadn't been laying eggs for these few days. I don't know if there was a connection between that and this medical problem or not. We will bury Flora today. Maybe I did something wrong about the coop. More straw, change bedding more often --- I don't know. I didn't see anything that could have caused her to injure her foot. The girls do free-range. Any thoughts about what might have caused this, or what I needed to do differently?
Click to expand...
:hugsI am sorry you lost Flora.

As prey animals chicken tend to hide their unwellness so well that it will often be too late to help when we are finally able to notice that something is wrong.

Could she have got bitten by a poisonous critter?

Another option would be her suffering from some kind of reproductive disorder, but usually there is not much one can do to help with this too.
 
I’m very sorry to hear you lost her @Dokdream. 😞 ❤️ I hope you can find out what happened with her rapid decline.
 
Dokdream said:
Two days ago, Friday, I saw my Wyandotte hen, Flora, favoring her foot; not putting weight on it and hobbling. I picked her up, saw a dark spot on her pad and a darkening on one toe. She was just at one year old. As a day-old chick, before I even got her, she had injured a toe on that foot which resulted in it being splayed, or twisted. I soaked the foot in Betadine, then applied Neosporin and wrapped it with gauze and open-weave medical tape. She was quiet and I put her in a private hutch overnight. in the morning, I saw that she had not moved and her vent area needd cleaning, which we did. We changed the dressing. I gave her a dose of a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Then I put her by food and water. She drank water, but not really interested in eating. She was unable to stand at all. I put her in an isolation box with straw bedding in our house. She was appearing weaker, but the dark spots were diminishing. This morning, she was weaker still, and I noted a slight raspiness when exhaling. Legs dangled. I cradled her in my arms. She beat her wings for a few seconds, then went limp and was dead. The other hens appear healthy so I don't think this was due to a communicable disease. I didn't notice mites or other sources of parasites. She hadn't been laying eggs for these few days. I don't know if there was a connection between that and this medical problem or not. We will bury Flora today. Maybe I did something wrong about the coop. More straw, change bedding more often --- I don't know. I didn't see anything that could have caused her to injure her foot. The girls do free-range. Any thoughts about what might have caused this, or what I needed to do differently?
Click to expand...
Sorry for your loss. I had a hen die in my arms and I was heartbroken 💔.
 
Taking photos of Flora's foot was not even in my mind. It was a small, dark patch on her foot-pad and a little discoloration on the top of one toe. I wondered how long this had been going on. Thursday, she gave no indication of a problem. Friday, she was limping. No sound, no significant movement. She just wanted to take herself away from the other girls until I picked her up and isolated her. One of our hens -- but I never knew which -- had trouble laying eggs; some are soft-shell. If now that problem is no more, then it was Flora who had the problem. It would suggest an internal problem. I'll know in a day or two and post information here. Flora is the second death in our family flock. The first was Betty. She was killed by a brazen, daytime oppossom attack when she was just a few months old. Now Flora, the Wyandotte is gone. Thanks for the condolences.
 

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