my chicken died suddenly.

[samuelG]

Hi there, I have six chickens... some are golden brown, others are black with purple and orange tinge and two are big white ones. all about 9 months.

On Monday we saw the two black ones in the same nesting box as they only want to use one and one black one is brooding, the other was trying to have an egg but the broody was dominating the space as this one is also number one on the pecking order and the more brazen one that is unafraid of the dog and the cat. I took the broody one out and let the little black one have the egg but on Tuesday and Wednesday we got no eggs from that little black one and Wednesday night we believed it was egg bound so I crushed up some calcium tablet and put it in water and fed it to the chicken via pipette also some hydralyte, put it in an epsom salt bath warm water and then at night I put it outside in the nesting box to rest hoping it would heal and have the egg however it was found this morning at 6 am to be stiff and it had died.

I have never had a person or a chicken die in my lifetime, I am 35years old and had very little sleep just worrying but also woke up today to just be uncontrollable with the crying. The chicken had its eyes closed in the bath last night and then opened them to look at us, we dried it but it was a cold night ( Australia going into autumn in two weeks) and then took it outside but not in the coop as it was very lethargic and withdrawn and would have been hurt by the others who are full of energy.
Is it possible it could have survived being potentially egg bound for almost 48hrs? I feel like this is my fault, what can I do so this will never happen again to my other five chickens? If it died from being egg bound and from the cold, would it have felt pain? how do others deal with the death of a chicken? This chicken did nothing to nobody, please give me your thoughts and if I contributed to this.

 

[Smileybans]

I’m so sorry for your loss. Can you do a necropsy or send her out to have a government agency do it? That way you can know for sure why she died.
It sounds like you were trying your hardest to help her. I don’t know much about egg bound but from what I have read it sounds like you did everything you could.

When we had chicks we hatched die we buried them for closure. The chicks that died usually had something wrong with them. With us being new to chickens it was difficult figuring out how to care for a deformed chick. But burying them helped us move on and continue to care for the rest of our flock.

 

[hannah and the chickens]

I'm sorry for your loss, too. Loosing a chicken is always hard, especially when you only have a small flock and know every hen's personality.

I live near a vet who luckily knows a lot about chickens and I took all of my sick chickens there. Nevertheless, oftentimes even the vet wasn't able to figure out what's wrong with some chickens. They can have lots of things and oftentimes it's impossible to spot things like tumors or organ failure in a living bird.
You did everything you could and it's not your fault. Chicken health is a fickle thing sometimes.

If you're worried that other chickens might have the same problem, it would make sense to have a necropsy done, like Smileybans said, to be able to treat the other chickens. If none of the others are showing any symptoms, you should bury her for closure. When one of my first hens died after just a few months, I buried her and my sister planted a flower on the spot. It helped me a lot.

 

[Callender Girl]

Sometimes, you can do everything you know how to do, do everything you're told is the right thing to do, and it doesn't save your chicken. Don't beat yourself up -- you did your best.

I always blame myself when a chicken (or any other one of my critters) dies. I think taking that kind of responsibility is part of what makes a good animal caretaker. You fight as hard as you can for them. Sometimes they still die, but you did your best to give her a great life while she was alive.

I always cry when I lose one because they aren't "just chickens," they are my pets. I bury mine and have marked the "cemetery" with some decorative stepping stones and a solar light that is topped with a metal chicken.

I am so sorry for your loss.

As far as whether your girl was egg bound for 48 hours? I don't know; my only experience is with a duck who I discovered bound when I returned from a trip. I did much the same as you, and about 12 hours later, she passed the egg but had permanent nerve damage and dragged her leg for the rest of her life. And, yes, she is buried out with the chickens.

Take care of yourself and the rest of your flock.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I am so sorry.

 

[samuelG]

I’m so sorry for your loss. Can you do a necropsy or send her out to have a government agency do it? That way you can know for sure why she died.
It sounds like you were trying your hardest to help her. I don’t know much about egg bound but from what I have read it sounds like you did everything you could.

When we had chicks we hatched die we buried them for closure. The chicks that died usually had something wrong with them. With us being new to chickens it was difficult figuring out how to care for a deformed chick. But burying them helped us move on and continue to care for the rest of our flock.

it has been hard yes and i have 5 chickens left but two have not had eggs for a while. I am unsure as I am new to all this but they are fed well, have a safe coop to sleep and have very big amounts of land to run around... Also the one that stopped laying recently was cause we had five days of torrential rain so maybe it is taking a break.. either way the other 3 lay every day... they do have personalities.