- Sep 1, 2012
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Hello. My dear friend and favorite hen Mrs. Peach passes yesterday. She was my last original bird and I had her for 3 years. Two days ago she was normal, bright and happy. She laid a clean egg, her bottom was fluffy and clean, she had a red plump comb and in contrast to my other birds seemed unaffected by the molt.
Yesterday I found her in the nest box gasping for air. Her comb had turned a dark bluish-purple. Her bottom was wet with watery diarrhea. My first thought was she was either egg-bound or had gape worms. She had always been healthy and I try to only worm when a bird shows any loss of vigor or brightness so she had never been treated. I gave her a 1/2 dose of ivermectin and put her in a dog crate then I had to leave for a few hours for work. When I came back she was dead.
The more I think about it, I feel like Mrs Peach was poisoned accidentally or intentionally by a neighbor or something on the property. She was the oldest most free-spirited bird we had. She would sleep on my front porch cuddled with a dog or one of the cats. She would occasionally associate with one of the other 40 birds on the farm but preferred more sophisticated company of humans, cats and dogs. There was no containing Peach. Once she was bored with our yard she was over the fence and down the road into the neighbors yard. Everyone always said the enjoyed seeing her but I always worried about dogs since she clearly wasn't afraid of them. I find it hard to believe that one of my neighbors would be so passive-aggressive as to poison her but form the quick onset and death I find gape worms hard to believe.
I would appreciate any input as to what you think could had caused this and what I should do to protect the rest of our flock.
Yesterday I found her in the nest box gasping for air. Her comb had turned a dark bluish-purple. Her bottom was wet with watery diarrhea. My first thought was she was either egg-bound or had gape worms. She had always been healthy and I try to only worm when a bird shows any loss of vigor or brightness so she had never been treated. I gave her a 1/2 dose of ivermectin and put her in a dog crate then I had to leave for a few hours for work. When I came back she was dead.
The more I think about it, I feel like Mrs Peach was poisoned accidentally or intentionally by a neighbor or something on the property. She was the oldest most free-spirited bird we had. She would sleep on my front porch cuddled with a dog or one of the cats. She would occasionally associate with one of the other 40 birds on the farm but preferred more sophisticated company of humans, cats and dogs. There was no containing Peach. Once she was bored with our yard she was over the fence and down the road into the neighbors yard. Everyone always said the enjoyed seeing her but I always worried about dogs since she clearly wasn't afraid of them. I find it hard to believe that one of my neighbors would be so passive-aggressive as to poison her but form the quick onset and death I find gape worms hard to believe.
I would appreciate any input as to what you think could had caused this and what I should do to protect the rest of our flock.
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