- Mar 22, 2009
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I haven't visited the forum in a long time.
My Nina, a 3.5 year old Red Sex Link, my first and my favorite chicken, seemed to be kind of droopy. I noticed her comb was drooping and then this morning she didn't even come out of the coop with the other girls. I checked out the forums and it seemed like she could be egg bound, so I decided to try the directions for that.
I filled a rubbermaid tub with warm water, had her resting in that and she seemed content enough. I put a little mineral oil around her vent and was cleaning off some crusty poop from around it, trying to work up the nerve to stick my gloved finger in her vent to see what was going on. Suddenly she flapped around, her head went under very briefly, I pulled her out immediately, she thrashed once more, and then was still. She died. Right in my hands. She started to get rigor mortis just a few minutes later.
I'm still in shock. Can anyone make suggestions about what happened? I'm sure that the force I used to pull her out of the water was not at all capable of breaking her neck. Her head was under the water for less than a second. She did kind of thrash it against the side of the tub but this was a plastic tub. Did she have a heart attack? Was my manipulation of her vent area so painful she passed out?
She was such a fabulous chicken. Calm, even tempered, an excellent layer. I looked forward to having her for years and years, whether she continued laying or not.
Thanks for any light you can shed on this.
My Nina, a 3.5 year old Red Sex Link, my first and my favorite chicken, seemed to be kind of droopy. I noticed her comb was drooping and then this morning she didn't even come out of the coop with the other girls. I checked out the forums and it seemed like she could be egg bound, so I decided to try the directions for that.
I filled a rubbermaid tub with warm water, had her resting in that and she seemed content enough. I put a little mineral oil around her vent and was cleaning off some crusty poop from around it, trying to work up the nerve to stick my gloved finger in her vent to see what was going on. Suddenly she flapped around, her head went under very briefly, I pulled her out immediately, she thrashed once more, and then was still. She died. Right in my hands. She started to get rigor mortis just a few minutes later.
I'm still in shock. Can anyone make suggestions about what happened? I'm sure that the force I used to pull her out of the water was not at all capable of breaking her neck. Her head was under the water for less than a second. She did kind of thrash it against the side of the tub but this was a plastic tub. Did she have a heart attack? Was my manipulation of her vent area so painful she passed out?
She was such a fabulous chicken. Calm, even tempered, an excellent layer. I looked forward to having her for years and years, whether she continued laying or not.
Thanks for any light you can shed on this.