Poor chick died

stinkypetersen

Hatching
11 Years
Sep 10, 2008
5
0
7
Hello there. I am new to chicken raising. I have a silkie chick around 7 weeks that has just passed died. I found that she had a very distended crop on Friday afternoon and put her in a box on her own with some water. The crop was squishy but large. At this stage she was still pecking and moving about.
The bird vet isn't available until Monday so I read around and last night I massaged her crop and a lot of fluid was released but I didn't see anything fibrous. I gave her a few drops of olive oil and a bit more of a massage and put her to bed on her own.
This morning I noticed that her poop was rather white and runny but a few dark patches too. I put her out in the yard today in a small cage but she barely moved. I just went to check her and she was no longer with us.
As I buried her I noticed that her breast bone was very prominent. Under her fluffy silky feathers she was quite emaciated. I had been handling her but must have been feeling the plump crop.
She has been sleeping on straw at night and on grass during the day and was being fed on chick starter crumble. Water was changed twice a day.
I would be interested in knowing if this might just be one of those unlucky instances or if anyone has any other ideas. Do you think I sped up her departure by massaging the crop?
Her pen friends all seem happy and healthy but I will be giving them extra squeezes.
Thanks. Feels good to purge.
 
welcome-byc.gif
, but :aww for having to post so sad up front!

I'm sorry for your silkie. Sounds like her crop was impacted, so she wasn't getting any nutrition, which is why she was so light. It also sounds like you did all you could.
hugs.gif
 
If all you got out of the crop was liquid, sounds like the blockage could have been even a bit further down towards the gizzard. Do you have grit or access to the soil for the birds so they can get rocks to digest their food? If so, there probably wasn't anything else you could have done for her since she had already been emaciated.

Sorry for your loss.
 
Welcome. Sorry to hear about your chick. I think all of us run into losing one from time to time. I'm not sure of the symptoms you described as I'm kinda new to this again after not having chickens for many years. These folks are very nice and helpful.
 
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