My barred rock hen

[cher1190]

Well first of all I am sad... one of my Barred Rock Hens got sick suddenly , I noticed her yesterday laying out under one of my garden plant boxes, I thought she was too hot , so I picked her up and took her in under the coop run roof out of the sun and gave her and the others fresh acv water, they always have ACV in their drinking water. I looked at her waddles and comb, they looked a bit bluish/purple. I really thought she was overheated so I put some water on her back under her feathers, just a hand full to cool her off, she seemed a bit better so I watched her off and on and in the evening I told my husband she wasn't well, he said, oh she is fine. I still didn't think so but decided to wait til today and see if there was any improvement. I let them out this morning and saw she wasn't on the roost, she was laying on the floor by the big door. I watched her and she did get up and go outside but laid down in the grass by the coop. I came back in and got on byc to find any info on sour crop, I was thinking maybe that is what was wrong, I went and got her and isolated her in our building with the big chicken brooder my husband built and gave her bedding, water with duramycin in it. no food. I left and went to the store to get Monostat suppositories to divide up and give to her in case it was fungal related. I got home and went to give it to her, she was too far gone, and I tried to pick her up, she cried, and I let go, then got her up to the front of the brooder, but she had convulsions or something and died. I really feel like a chicken failure, she was a great chicken.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I am so sorry for your loss. You are not a chicken failure, not at all. You saw that your bird was ill and you took steps to try to help her - the fact that the bird was not able to be saved does not make you a failure - the fact that you did what you did makes you a good chicken owner who did what they knew to do, who sought more information when you needed it and who tried. So many

to you.

 

[Oliver Douglas]

Sometimes things just happen, out of the blue, and despite your best efforts....it ends badly. Could have been a latent birth defect, sudden allergy to something....the blue color you described sounds like oxygen deprivation. Bad heart, possibly. You did your best to make her comfortable in her last hours and provide what you could, given the circumstances. Birds like chickens can be hard to figure out. Might have been ill for a long time but chose to hide the condition, fearing for what her flock mates might do. They are sometimes not as kind as folks are.

 

[cher1190]

Thank you for the kind words. I really appreciate them. I'm hoping to keep my flock happy and healthy, things do happen unexpectedly with chickens I guess, but still makes me sad. Hope you have a great memorial day weekend.