Lost a pullet- not able to figure out what was wrong in time :(

vthadley

Hatching
6 Years
Aug 14, 2013
8
1
7
It's a sad day for me. My little Cocoa, who I picked out as a sweet little day-old chick, is gone. It went so fast I have no idea what I could have possibly done to help her. But I'd sure like to know in the future.

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.): Easter egger pullet, 3.5 months. I did notice that she seemed thinner than the others her age.

2) What is the behavior, exactly. Yesterday evening my son noticed that she wasn't as active as usual. It was close to dusk so I thought she may just be getting ready for bed. She had just been outside with the others begging for treats. She even hopped up on the bench and sat with me. She was a little cuddlier than usual but I didn't see anything that alarmed me.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? This morning something was clearly wrong. She did come out of the coop but didn't make it much further before she laid on the ground on her side. I had brought her inside to look here for advice and she went downhill so quickly that by the time I had made the decision to put her down, I literally went to bring her outside to do so and she had already died. In the last minute her neck convulsed and her head was bobbling back and forth, her eyes were blinking. I wish I had been able to recognize how far gone she was and put her out of it before that happened to her :(

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No.

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. I noticed that her neck seemed very distended. At first I thought it was an impacted crop but it was just her neck.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. No idea.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. She had been eating grow and show crumbles, some multi-flock, and drinking water.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? No time to try anything before she passed.

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? N/A at this time.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use. Wooden coop, pine shavings for bedding. Just cleaned and treated with poultry protector this weekend.


Darn it. I know when you have chickens these things happen but I lost another favorite to a dog a couple of weeks ago.
 
Here she is hanging out with me just yesterday :(

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I am so very sorry for your loss... she was beautiful!

Unless you send her body for necropsy you will never know for sure as to what happened to cause her death.

She may have had an injury, worms, lice/mites or any number of other ailments...sometimes they die from causes we can do nothing about to help them.

hugs.gif
 
X2 chickens are real good at hiding ailments until by the time you notice illness its gone pretty far. Sadly neucropsy is the only for sure way to know what happened. I'm so sorry for your loss. I recently lost Three of my girls I raised from babies too. I never figured out exactly what it was that got them. I know it was a virus of sorts. A lab is the only way to really know. ..
 

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