We just lost Persephone

[Deleted]

I just went out to give the chickens a treat and check for eggs, and I found Persephone (Rich's little girl) dead. She's still warm, even. Not a mark on her anywhere, and she was in with the pile of chickens that were sunning and napping, it's just that she didn't get up and run to me when the others did. She looked like she went to sleep and just died.

I can't figure out what might have happened. Her vent is clean and still moist, she doesn't have an egg jammed in there, I went and checked her grass nest to see if she'd maybe just laid a big honker of an egg that might have torn her inside - nothing. This is so bizarre! All of them were fine an hour ago, running around the yard, eating and pecking and stuff. She did seem a bit on the thin side, though, and there was hardly anything in her crop. There's plenty of food in the feeder, and water in the fount (always), and of course treats from me every day. Why would she stop eating? If that's even what happened. I'm still mystified. But supposing she DID starve herself, why would she do that? She was always right in with the rest of them when they were eating, so I don't know if that's what it was, but I can't think of anything else. She never even so much as sneezed, so she wasn't sick.

This is so depressing. I could understand it if she had been sick, or if there were wounds on her from something, or if her neck had been broken, or whatever, but there's nothing to indicate why she died. Nothing that I can see, anyway. I'm so sad...

~Lannie

[Kathy]

I don't know if you checked but there is something called gizzard worms. Maybe she had one of those.

I'm sorry about your loss, I know she had a special place in both Rich's & your heart.

At least she died peacefully instead of being the victim of a predator. I know that's its not much comfort but you did give her a very good chicken life.

[bbird]

I'm sorry Lannie, especially when you have no answers to Why it is always hard to take.

I've had it happen to me to, and never do find out what happened. No signs of sickness...just one day it's laying there.

One thing to check for that maybe you haven't thought of is lice/mites. You might want to check her. Having an over infestation of lice can make a chicken lose weight.
If she does have lice on her, it's very very easy to fix.

Big hug for you and Rich!

[Deleted]

No, no lice. I didn't open her up though, so I don't know about a gizzard worm. Never heard of that one. They get DE in their food, so they shouldn't have any worms at all, but maybe a gizzard worm is something different.

She did have a good life, though. I'm sure gonna miss that little girl. She always was so perky and ran up to us when she saw us, her little fat legs pumping and wings flapping. You know. Anyway, she's buried now, out behind the garden. I'm going to be a nervous wreck for a while, worrying about the rest of them. God I hate it when I don't know the reason for something. I know there IS a reason, I just don't know what it is!

~Lannie

[bergere]

Am so sorry Lannie.

We lost a few that way in the past. More often than not, it is heart attacks. They go to sleep and never wake up.
Had three chickens and one very rare and spendy Shetland Island goose do that too us. Is one of the reasons I stopped trying to breed Shetland Island geese.

[Deleted]

I thought Cornish X were the ones that had heart attacks. God knows these guys get plenty of exercise. I guess I'll never know, but my heart is still broken. Why did it have to be HER?

Rich says maybe she had something wrong with her for her whole (short) life, because she was the "runt" and was always smaller and less developed than the others. Her comb was still pink and very small, in fact. She was laying eggs, but she didn't look as "grown up" as the rest of the girls. She was the little petite one, of course, the one you would normally get most attached to. So maybe it was something congenital, who knows?

Next one to go will be Gimpy, I'm sure. He's the little guinea with the crooked toe. We managed to almost fix his foot way back when he was 4 days old, but his middle toe still curls to the inside, and he's always separate from the rest of the guineas. He stays off by himself, and every once in a while, I'll see two or three of the other ones chasing him. They roost together just fine, though. But the one that's not in the group will be the one that gets got by something. That's gonna hurt when it happens...

Wow, I'm really bummed today. Who'da thought a chicken could do this to me? I'm going to have to go upstairs and veg out in front of the TV or something to take my mind off this. I'm just getting weepy. Fine farmer, I am, huh? Can't even lose a chicken without turning into a blubber-baby.

Sorry...

~Lannie