Sad Death and Aspiration Question

[micstrachan]

Labor Day Weekend, I lost my first girl, Rusty. She was about 18 months old and a New Hampshire Red. She had egg yolk peritonitis in early March which nearly killed her. She seemed go recover, and went on hormones to prevent future laying. She had a couple bouts of ascites afterward, but seemed to recover with draining and antibiotics. She was feisty and fought hard to live! She started passing egg material again (really deformed... not resembling egg much) so I got her a new hormone implant. She was very underweight when I brought her in. As she did the first time she went on hormones, she didn't feel well. Also, she has trouble with heat, and the weekend was very hot. Whenever she was not feeling well, she would give me lots of eye contact, as she did Labor Day Weekend. However, I fully expected her not to feel well, with the combination of heat and hormones (plus being underweight and the history of peritonitis followed by another infection... just a fragile girl). Anyway, throughout the weekend, I "dipped" a couple girls in water, only their bodies, of course, which seemed a relief, as they would stop open mouth breathing and stop holding their wings out. My Brahma even came up and asked for a second turn in the dip! So on the second day, Rusty was just standing there facing a bush. She looked like her breathing was a little labored, too. So I picked her up to dip her. To my surprise, she was a bit gurgley, but I figured cooling her might help her feel a little better. Immediately after the dip, she started screaming! After a few screams, I could tell she was gasping for air. I don't know if I gave her a heart attack, collapse what little air space she had left in her lungs, or what. It was HORRIBLE. In a frantic mode, I tipped her butt up thinking I could help clear her airway. She continued to scream stumbled, and collapsed. I realized it was the end, picked her up, she squawked, flailed for a second, and died in my arms. It was very dramatic, and I felt terribly responsible!
Logically, I know she was going to pass at some point anyway in her fragile state, but it really broke my heart that her very last memory of the loving person who "saved" her on multiple occasions ended up "killing" her. Very tough loss for me.
So, now that I have sort of recovered emotionally, what did I do wrong? My neighbor told me she had been doing the yelling/screaming thing over in his yard under his tree earlier that day. I was not aware of that until after she passed. Should I not have dipped her in her fragile state? Should I not have tipped her? Did I cause her to aspirate her crop contents? Any advice would be helpful. I would really like to learn from the whole thing. It was awful. Thanks.

 

[Kiki]

Sorry for your loss.
Wetting a sick chicken is usually never a good idea.
Not sure what you mean by tipping her but if it was not a natural movement that should would have done on her own, it probably wasn't a good idea either.

 

[micstrachan]

Ok, bummer. Two bad ideas all at once. So no wetting a sick chicken, even on a really hot (110 degree) day? Got it. And the tipping? I hear of people turning their chickens over to dust their bottoms for mites or inspect their feet, so I didn't realize turning her over was a no-no. Or is that only if they are sick? Honestly, I am pretty sure she was withering away anyway, but she fought hard and I wanted to give her every possible chance. Sounds like I blew it in the end.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Please don't beat yourself up. We all do things that in retrospect weren't perhaps the best decision, but we learn from those experiences. (My list is very long with chickens... it was a steep learning curve for me!) Tipping a chicken can be dangerous (I've read), because it can cause them to aspirate. Sounds like you really cared for her and did above and beyond what most would have done!

 

[Kiki]

Ok, bummer. Two bad ideas all at once. So no wetting a sick chicken, even on a really hot (110 degree) day? Got it. And the tipping? I hear of people turning their chickens over to dust their bottoms for mites or inspect their feet, so I didn't realize turning her over was a no-no. Or is that only if they are sick? Honestly, I am pretty sure she was withering away anyway, but she fought hard and I wanted to give her every possible chance. Sounds like I blew it in the end.

Sounds like you did your best. I wouldn't worry about what happened right at the end too much...Sounds like she was a very sick bird.

And yes...never wet an already very sick bird.

 

[micstrachan]

Thank you for your kind, understanding responses. I am trying to learn as fast as I can. Had no idea I'd have so many issues this early with chicken keeping. I feel I am a pretty good chicken keeper... my friends with chickens ooh and aaah when they come see my set up. As a former molecular biologist, it is my instinct to research, research, research. I have research as much as I can about coops, diet, and flock dynamics.They have a secure coop, nice run, get lots of supervised free range time, and get organic crumble (grower or layer, depending on age), plus I keep things pretty clean and offer only healthy treats like meal worms, millet, kale, berries, yogurt. They get a small treat about every second day, but it is a small portion of their diet. I hand raised them all and they are friendly and sit in my lap. All of nine of them. Ironically, Rusty was the only one who didn't lap sit.
I didn't expect to have to learn so much about health issues so quickly and am very grateful for this forum.