We lost our first chicken today :(

[KenyonFam4]

So when my daughter put the chickens away in their coop yesterday afternoon, she failed to mention to me that she couldn't find our sweet Cali. So this morning my hubby woke me up to tell me that he saw my chicken laying in the yard and she looked dead...I ran out there, and found that she was not yet dead but looked very close to it. She had been out probably most of the later afternoon and all night. I scooped her up in a towel and brought her in to warm her up and dry her off. I then noticed she had a HUGE wound on her side and bum...So I called my sister in law to help me get her cleaned up. After talking to numerous people, they said to get her in the sink and rinse her off with the kitchen hose and used some antibacterial soap. Once we got her cleaned up, we looked a little closer to find she was COVERED in maggots. We gave her a bath again and tried to rinse them all off her. We thought we had them all but once we put her on the counter again, they just kept coming out of nowhere...I started to use a q-tip to wipe them from under the skin and saw that they were coming out of her skin. There were THOUSANDS of them. I dont understand how she got maggots so fast since she was only out there less than 24 hrs. Anyways, after noticing that she looked like she had a puncture wound on her lower back, and so many maggots, and she was not able to walk on her leg at all, we decided she didnt need to suffer anymore and we had to put her down. She would have been 6 months old in two days.

 

[spacecowgirl]

Oh my Lord. That is horrible!!! I'm so sorry! I honestly don't even know if I could deal with that- my gag reflex would've been going into overdrive. Kudos to you for doing the best you could, and I'm so sorry for your loss..

Any idea what could have done that?

 

[gritsar]

I'm sorry for your loss

 

[ladyride]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[Silkie Sue]

That is sooo sad

it's not easy losing those little awesomes.

Since i have got into chickens i didn't realize there were so many ways to die

We do the best we can to keep them safe and happy but as prey animals there are way too many dangers.

As for the maggots,

i had a hen who " blew out" and she had maggots and had to be put down
maybe she was injured before and you didn't realize it ?

 

[allieloveschickens]

So sorry, what a terrible discovery

 

[KenyonFam4]

Thanks everyone. We are thinking my dog got to her. We have a lab/pointer mix and she never tries to hurt the chickens but just wants to play with them...I always intervene and stop it before she gets too excited but since it was at night and I was sleeping, I couldnt do anything. I blame myself 100% for not checking the coop after my 5 year old put the chickens away. She always does such a good job at rounding them up that I never think twice. We are super sad that she is gone. Her last meal was a raw uncooked EGG!

Here is a pic of her horrible wound and her last meal!

 

[Pickled Egg]

Poor hen

What a horrendous wound...you did the right thing not to let her suffer.

 

[heatherkh]

I'm so so so sorry for your loss! Please don't be too hard on yourself - you are a good chicken momma and have a wonderful chicken family. These things happen. Peace to you and your family.

 

[Help_battery_hens]

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