One of my silkies died today. Advice. [Dead bird picture warning]

[bluere11e]

My first thought was did she drown from the washing machine drain run off? All that foam with the soap might have poisoned her. Than I realized.. that's snow.. She looks like she's frozen.. I live in Florida In the top of the Everglades. we can get some COLD nights here.. down in the 20's even. When it's in the 40's everyone gets a heat lamp in the coop. It might be overkill, but When I see them all tucked under the radiant heat, I know I am doing the right thing

 

[welasharon]

I'm so sorry! I just got two silkies and two showgirls and still keep a light for them at night. I am waiting till we have no more cold to remove the light...and I am in North Florida.

I also wondered what that fluffy stuff was...thought it was like the fill that comes out of pillows. You can tell we don't get snow here thank goodness.
sharon

 

[Underwhere]

buried her this afternoon with a small cross outside the run.
My mother has been crying off and on tonight. Very sad.


I have more information and hopefully your experience will shed some light on what happened. I am open to any ideas you guys have as the health of my 4 remaining girls depends on my ability to protect them or treat them.

I arrived home, opened the door and am almost certain no large animal made it inside the coop. The coop has wire all the way around and on top. I didn't see any breaks in the wire and around the edges where there is snow I did not see any tracks.

I found my gray silky huddled up against the coop and she refused to move which is very unlike her. I picked her up and brought her outside of the run where she seemed a bit more normal and then put her back into the coop.

My 2 cochins I found inside the nest which is very unusual as well. They like to roost.


Here is a picture of my coop (before the snow). I thought I had built a very safe fortress for them.

When I walked into the coop I saw this: (notice white feathers on the ground which is unusual). The gray silky can be seen up against the coop on the left. The unfortunate girl can be seen at the top of the picture on her side. Sometimes the birds like to huddle in that corner up against the wire mesh.

When I took her body out I did not find any noticeable blood or injury until I looked at her bottom right side.
This is above her feet and below the wing a bit.

I found a very small stringy blood stain on her feathers in that area and when I pulled the feathers to expose the skin I found an area about the size of a dime that looked like it was dried blood. The pictures aren't good but hopefully you have an idea of where it is.

Ideas that I have:

1. She may have not made it into the coop last night and she may have just sat in the corner of the run next to the cage.
Perhaps some animal reached in through the wire of the cage an injured her.

2. Something very small got into the run somehow, and injured her

3. The other chickens attacked her?

4. She froze and then the birds pecked at her afterwards? There really was very little blood to be found on her.




Here is the girl that passed away:

 

[BrattishTaz]

Quote:
White foamy stuff!!!

I'm sorry but that cracked me up!! You southern bell you!

Hey! Don't laugh at Three Cedars, I thought the exact same thing. It looks like foam!

We are just winterly challenged here.

 

[ginormous chicken]

I'm sorry!

She was a beauty! I am going to go with A. Maybe she froze due to the cold and the other chickens pecked at her?

PS. I thought you just washed your coop or something. I thought it was white foamy stuff too like suds. Sorry...

I am from CA. Valley= no snow!

 

[Underwhere]

Have any of you had any birds attacked through protective fencing?

My guess is that if something had made it's way inside, then the bird would have been much more mangled.
I still can't figure out why there are feathers on the ground.

 

[BrattishTaz]

Underwhere, I'm sorry you lost your silkie.

She was beautiful. I wish I could help you figure out what happened to her but I have no idea. With such a small amount of blood, the injury could have happened after she died.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Again, so sorry for the loss of your beautiful girl. Tell you mom that I cry for days every time I lose a bird.

I really do think she just didn't make it inside and froze. With the days getting a bit longer, they want to stay out later. You will probably need to reset your timer on the door and then do a bed check when you get home.

Your setup is lovely and it looks perfectly secure. The other silkie acting strange is worrisome for a predator for sure. I can recommend a hot wire around the top and bottom of your wire run that you turn on in the afternoon after everyone is secure in the coop. Since we started doing that, we've had no more predator deaths or even tracks.

 

[Underwhere]

I'm concerned something else is wrong.

My gray silkie is usually the most active, running around the fastest and just a little ball of energy.
Since the white silkie died, she has been just immobile.

When I picked her up that day she didn't even bother to move. She just sat down on the ground motionless.
When I picked her up and put her outside of the run she moved a bit and I thought everything was ok.

However today I went back to the coop and found her in the nest not wanting to move. I picked her up and placed her outside of the nest.
She just stood there with her neck and head somewhat recessed into her body.
Just standing there doing nothing.

What's wrong with my little one?

I feed them Green Mountain Layered pellet with some corn mixed in.

I have some fish antiobiotics handy. Should I put a generic broad spectrum antibiotic in their drinking water?

 

[Underwhere]

How can I tell if her crop is impacted? I can definitely feel a small lump there with squishy stuff inside...but I don't want to hurt her if this isn't the problem she's having.
I've massaged it slightly and brought it to almost flat (rather than a small ping pong ball)

I've isolated her this morning and given her a small tub of water and a bit of yogurt.