Hi and welcome but so sorry it is under such sad circumstances.
Most of us have been through it and unfortunately it is an inevitability of keeping chickens since they have such short lives, although obviously Pearline's little life was cut short far too soon. It's funny how they wrangle their way into your heart, especially when you are having to give them TLC for weeks or months on end and hoping against hope that you can fix them. I had a very near miss with a little bantam pekin, Vippy who also had an impacted crop a few weeks ago and after 2 weeks of massaging and vomiting, she stopped eating and I knew she would not last long as she was just skin, bone and feathers. In desperation I performed surgery on her and removed a tennis ball sized mass of soggy strands of straw and dry grass from inside her crop. At one point I was sure I had killed her because she aspirated vomit, however she is a tough little cookie and has come through it and is now back in her pen with her palls and laying eggs again.
I've had numerous others over the years that I have been less fortunate with though. Little Hope springs to mind as she was a real favourite. She got Marek's disease and the first attack at about 3 months caused her significant paralysis and she couldn't walk for a few days and kept falling on her side and floundering, unable to get up. Amazingly she completely recovered as quickly as it came on but 6 weeks later she had a second and much worse attack and she was nest bound for 3 months. Twice I told myself that I would euthanize her by the weekend because her quality of life was so poor. I had to hold her to eat and drink and clean her up of course because she was soiling herself, but she refused to give in and I couldn't give up on her whilst she was prepared to fight. Eventually we got some warm spring weather and sunshine and I was able to put her out in a large cage on the grass and that was when she started to make real progress. She started to crawl using a leg and wing and gradually over several more months she got more and more use of her paralysed limbs, just through sheer determination to get from A to B. It was not pretty to watch but she kept at it She eventually improved so much that she was able to free range with the flock by summer and whilst she still had a limp she could half fly half hobble when she wanted to get somewhere quick and easily keep up with the others, especially if there was scratch being scattered. She was even laying me a few eggs each week. something I never expected because Marek's is a wasting disease that causes tumours and there is no cure, so she was always on borrowed time. Sadly one day I had a fox attack and she was one of the victims. I was totally gutted because she was my little sweetheart but at least she died doing what she enjoyed out ranging and I'm pretty sure she will have put up a heck of a fight....
...............so, anyway I really do sympathise.
Try to take comfort in the ones you have left and remember the good times with Perline. You might want to consider making a little momento of her as a keep sake. Some people do a little plaster foot imprint and decorate it with a few of their feathers. As a speckled Sussex she will have beautiful feathers, so it would look lovely. Apologies if the idea is a bit macabre, I know it's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but just something to consider.
Best wishes
Barbara
