A sad note

[thegayhare]

Just a sad little note. Our flock has suffered its first loss

Sweetpea died today. In the last 3 days we noticed there was something off in her behavior. She wasn't moving about as much and preferred to sleep in the nesting boxes. For a girl who was proudly positioned on the highest roost the night before this was odd. When the yesterday I did some research and we determined she was egg bound. This is a situation where a chicken can't pass an egg. Maybe it's because it's two big, or she's two fat, or stressed, or doesn't have enough calcium but since a chicken only has one opening if that egg blocks it off other stuff starts to build up behind it.

We did everything we could to save her, and the good thing is she seemed to know we were trying to help. She took her olive oil and epsom salts and seemed to get alittle better. And she really enjoyed the warm bath. Both seemed to help it was pushing stuff through. But it was during the bath she passed. So she knew we cared. It seems silly to be upset over the passing of a chicken, they have such short life spans but we love our birds, and she's our first. We knew we may lose some to winter or animals but that doesn't make it easier. We'll learn from this, in hind Site there were less obvious symptoms we missed, but now we know what to look for and hopefully this particular loss won't happen again.


And no.We didn't eat her. Laying hens are fairly tough and stringy, pluss with the way she passed there is a chance of bowel rupture wich would contaminate the meat. Never eat a sick animal

[VAE]

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And no.We didn't eat her. Laying hens are fairly tough and stringy, pluss with the way she passed there is a chance of bowel rupture wich would contaminate the meat. Never eat a sick animal. [

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Hmm. You dunno until you open her up, besides even if it happened, it's not as bad a contamination as you'd think. The sort of animal to kick the bucket you wouldn't eat is one that died of a proper sickness. But, yeah - this sort of thing happening, there's not much of a chance of fixing the animal up and it's usually best to kill and eat - saves them the suffering, too.

Also, the thing to do with meat like this is to boil it first to make soup, then perhaps fill it and toss it into the oven until the filling's done, or rip off the meat from the bones and make a stew.

But yeah, this sort of thing happening is a real bummer, sorry for your loss.

[Merlin]

Oh, I'm so sorry that happened. It's always sad to lose a hen. 

[thegayhare]

Oh, I'm so sorry that happened. It's always sad to lose a hen. 

Yeah but it is a learning experience. the girls have already adjusted to the new pecking order too

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Indeed, life is a learning experience. Sympathy for your loss, and glad you learned enough to hopefully avoid it next time.

Perhaps some more calcium in their diets, maybe? I dunno. Still sad, though.