Put my first chicken down :(

[csaylorchickens]

Goldie...15 weeks old buff orpington. I notice this past week that she's been acting a little strange. Yesterday evening I noticed that she was breathing kind of funny. I brought her into the house and kept her warm and safe when I woke up this morning she was in respiratory distress. I rushed her to the vet. Apparently her peritoneal cavity was full of fluid. She's getting a narcopsy done today to see cause of death the vet thinks that she had peritonitis egg bound but she's only 15 weeks old he said that she could have started the process and had issues with her reproductive organs.RIP Goldie. I held her for a whilw and stayed with her when she passed. That sucked.

 

[TwoCrows]

I am so sorry you lost her.

Sounds like she very well could have had peritonitis or even heart failure. Either of these can empty fluid into the abdomen.

Again I am so sorry.

 

[csaylorchickens]

I am so sorry you lost her.   

Sounds like she very well could have had peritonitis or even heart failure. Either of these can empty fluid into the abdomen.

Again I am so sorry. 

Thank you

I read up on peritonitis and she had all the signs and symptoms I guess that there isnt anyway to prevent that?

 

[TwoCrows]

No, there is no prevention. When the egg yolks are not going down the oviduct and get deposited into the abdomen or other cavities of the bird, they infect, (usually with E.coli) and the bird eventually dies. You can offer up antibiotics at first, but this is not a cure, only keeps them alive a bit longer. In the end, there is no cure for peritonitis.

 

[csaylorchickens]

now to tell my 7 year old when he gets home she was his favorite he named her and held her a lot that is going to be the hardest the first pet he has lost

 

[csaylorchickens]

And it happened so fast 48 to 72 hours

 

[TwoCrows]

now to tell my 7 year old when he gets home she was his favorite he named her and held her a lot that is going to be the hardest the first pet he has lost

I don't envy you. I know how difficult this is on you and your son. I hope both of your heavy hearts heal soon.

 

[csaylorchickens]

Thank u

 

[csaylorchickens]

Doc just called severe right sided heart failure. He said it looks kite it was congenital, signs of it in tissues for a while and her heart finally gave out. Nothing I could have done to help

 

[TwoCrows]

Doc just called severe right sided heart failure. He said it looks kite it was congenital, signs of it in tissues for a while and her heart finally gave out. Nothing I could have done to help

Yes, heart failure will cause the abdomen to fill with fluid. I am so sorry.

I lost a bird to heart failure last year. I could hear her heart valves clicking a few months before her heart gave out. (you can put your ear over their back where the neck meets. The lungs are beneath this area, heart beneath the lungs.)