My Chicken has Cancer

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

We have a six-year-old silkie, one of the first ones i ever hatched. She was super loud as a kid, always complaining. So i named her after our neighbor's loud son. There was Morgan the kid, and then Morgan the Chicken.

She's always been on the thin side, and has had several medical issues in her life. i brought her inside several weeks ago to be a companion to another silkie who broke her leg. She's been eating and drinking. Didn't realize until i picked her up the yesterday that she was super thin. Our vet found numerous tumors inside her abdomen upon x-ray. That, along with her severe emaciation, is most certainly cancer. So we're going to try to make her last days the best possible. She's on pain meds, and will get hard-boiled egg, lettuce, and meal worms every day. This is the part of pet ownership that is so hard. i've lost several chickens and beloved cats to cancer. It's so hard watching them waste away. But, at least i was lucky enough to have them all in my life.

That's all. i just needed to share.

 

[sumi]

I'm so sorry

 

[Putt-Putney]

I'm so sorry to hear that! :/

I actually lost my favorite Roo to cancer. I wasn't aware at all that he even had it. He never showed signs. I'm glad you caught it. It is sad, my boy would eat and drink like no problem- and just one day I found out that he really wasn't doing so well. He was the sweetest bird I have ever met. You could call his name "Putney" and he'd come running up to you, and if you held out your arm he'd jump up and fall asleep. He was also a lap chicken. Loved it! I miss that little guy, he'd copy you. If you made a noise, he'd try his best to imitate you! I really loved him. It's so hard to watch them like that, it's true. I miss my little Brahma, it was sad he was only 8 months old, but I know he's in chick-heaven! I know how it feels!

 

[DarkChicken]

I am sorry to hear
I need help trying to figure out what I can do to help my Rhode Island Red, RedNeck, through her cancer or tumors all along her right side, but I think it is too late because they are on her head and neck along with she will not lift her head from the side and she is constantly falling asleep no matter where she stands or lying down.
I am tired of the deaths because of the sicknesses that are occurring, In the last three months I have lost my most prized chicken, Storm (a blue andalusian) that helped me through some tough time, she never reached the age of laying, but died suddenly when I got home she had food and water and was healthy.
A big cochin, Nutmeg, helped me through Storms death but then got sick and died she was very young.
A Russian Cochin, Snow angel, a small companion for my small and slow growing black silkie, Dark angel, Snow angel was found upside down, alone and dead.
A baby quail, Bonile, after finding her in this bunker then taking care of her for a few days, she died. And now I am afraid that RedNeck is next in line.
I have made each of them a grave at my home but Storm is the one with a tombstone with her name on it, and love(d) everyone of them <3

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i'm so sorry for all your loss DarkChicken. It's so hard losing them. Since my initial post, we put Morgan to sleep. She really hung in there for a long time. But once she wasn't able to stand anymore, i knew it was time. But even to the last, she was eating the mealworms i gave her.

Chickens are so good at hiding illness, until it is too late. And they seem to be able to endure a lot of pain without showing it. If you find you have a lot of unexplained deaths, you may want to get a necropsy. i am lucky to live near a university that does federally-funded necropsies on backyard flocks for free. i have had chickens die of cancer, too often it seems. i have had two different chickens die of a ruptured liver. Just last Monday one of my ducks died and the preliminary necropsy report sounds like cancer and internal laying. It does seem like the ones who are the sweetest, whom you love the most, are the ones you lose first.

i do want to say

Though i'm sorry your first post was a sad one. Hope to see you post more with happy stories about your chickens.

Colleen

 

[DarkChicken]

Thank you Enchanted Sunrise Farms, RedNeck died with my by her side only last week. She didn't die alone, but it is a good thing she is no longer suffering she is with the rest of my dead birds in their little grave yard. May she rest without being bothered

 

[William Nash]

Today we lost our silkie chicken Cookie. We suspect it may have been cancer. She was always really light and skinny but she ate everything in sight. Then out of the blue one day I found her face down on the ground and I knew she was in trouble. We immediately took her to the vet and she gave us a powder to mix in with her water that had antibodies to fight whatever she had. However despite her continuing to eat everything in sight she died the very next morning. My wife cried like a baby and then I did when I had to burry her. We loved our cookie she was so sweet. Another thing that is frustrating is that we can’t seem to find a good vet for our chickens, most seem to treat them like expendable live stock than pets that are loved and adored.

 

[aimee750]

I'm so sorry. I recently had to put down my 11 yr old dog due to cancer. It's hard!