I culled my BR - hard to do but necessary

[Hens_And_Chicks]

About six weeks ago, I posted about one of my 6 month Barred Rock pullets suddenly started limping and then went semi-paralyzed. She remained alert, eating and drinking but would not stand or walk. She was laying eggs so I was trying to give her time to recover. She had recovered to the point of being able to stand up but she would not walk. I think she had a stroke. I know several people said Marek's but she didn't show symptoms classic to MD.

I finally made the decision to humanely end her suffering - her comb had fallen over - I don't know if that means anything but I have been reading her on BYC and really appreciate the perspective of more experienced poultry people who support culling birds that don't meet the standards.

I have 26 new chicks that are a week old and 8 five week old Light Brahmas. Thanks to everyone here - I really can't say enough how helpful and enlightening about the chicken hobby this board has been to me in just two months.

 

[HennyPennies2007]

Sorry to hear about your hen. I had to do 4 in one day once due to illness...and some of them showed no symptoms. Since mine are pets...it was awful.....Hang in there...ya did the right thing.

 

[JennsPeeps]

It's never easy to lose a bird.

 

[Hens_And_Chicks]

Thanks - I really did try to be patient and let her recover but in the end, just watching her yesterday helped me make my decision. I'd been mulling it over for about 2 weeks. Yesterday I took her out of the cage (which I had done frequently) and put her in the flower beds. She barely moved. I took water out to her and at the end of the day, she was still sitting in the same place.

I just don't understand - there were 11 other pullets & 4 roos and nobody else showed the same kind of symptoms or acted like her and they were all together.

I knew that I would never consider her for a breeder after this but it was apparent her recovery was going to require seperate housing and she would most likely never integrate back into the flock.

Pets or providers, they still all have a deserved quality of life - when it is compromised, then it's up to me, hard as that is.