Why did grass kill my beloved hen?

[kissezmychicken]

I haven seen grass in three months let alone cut it..you must live in heaven I have two foot of snow..has been here for months.
You are a wonderful chicken mom..I can tell. I've had weird things happen too. Its hard to deal with..but don't let it take the joy away. Hugs

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have two foot of snow..has been here for months.

I just don't know how you folk do it! I had to bust ice out of my chicken water 3 times so far this year. (that's a sincere dislike of breaking ice).. (a little FRIENDLY poke too of course)!

I keep trying to cut the grass in between rain storms. I'm using my good ol' push mower on my 1 acre. So I do it in sections... might take me a whole week to get it mowed and then it's time start at the beginning again! But the weather is good and I just do it at my leisure so it's not like doing a chore at all.

I never EVER bagged my clipping until just the past 6 months or so (as far as I'm concerned it's how the pasture/lawn feeds itself), when I decided I need SOME sort of deep "litter" (or forest type floor) covering the dirt in my covered run. Otherwise the edges become a STINKING mud mess. I guess the speed at which my mulch is coming works pretty well for the chooks to scratch through it and spread it for drying instead of clumping and rotting.

I hope I don't have a tragic accident like this unfortunate one. I know anything can happen to ANY of us at ANY time, regardless of it NEVER having been a problem in the past. It's never... UNTIL it IS. I guess this is one of those instances where I won't be changing my current practice even though I do realize there is some risk. I lost to chicks to a semi unknown aerial predator this week (hawk or crow), and still choose to free range. I only experienced 1 chick disappearance for the first time in 8 years last year. And my first egg binding too. And my first Marek's! Somehow I doubt these comment are truly helping the OP..

But still wanna say, thank you for sharing.. I won't forget this learning opportunity....

@BlueChai In the spirit of celebrating your beloved hens life... how about sharing a pic?!

 

[pvaldes]

We should note that grass can cut. It has serrated edges that can act like a microscopic razor. If you pull it, and is placed in the wrong sense, you could seriously injure your bird's intestines

 

[BlueChai]

You make a good point, pvaldes. I never thought of that. But she wasn't pooping at all and the grass was just hanging out, I assumed there was no other way but to try and pull it out. I decided I will continue to give my birds grass, but I'll keep my lawn cut shorter and don't give them long pieces.

 

[BlueChai]

This is the only picture I have on hand right now of my babies. The hen on the far left is Popo, I miss her very much. The rooster in the middle is Nelly, and my white silkie hen is Murphy. Popo was Nelly's favorite hen, and he missed her very much a few days after she died. He would cry and cry for her, the two were so in love with each other. I have more images at home, so I'll show those later.

 

[BlueChai]

Today the same issue killed my last hen. All three of them, death by grass. I opened her up and took a peek, her gizzard was impacted. It was full of clumps of grass and not enough grit. I feel awful but at least I learned something. I'm just upset now because all I have is 1 rooster and 3 pullets, way too young to lay. I will have no laying hens for the spring. No chicks this year, I guess.

 

[Relleoms]

Man, that really sucks. So sorry for your losses

 

[BlueChai]

It's alright, thank you.