by Seasonsgirl
I know my blog is usually happy and I try to have a positive spin… but tonight I am sad as we just lost our first chicken. I am sure some of you remember last year I wrote about our girl who has “poopy butt”. With help from my blogging chicken neighbors I was able to nurse her back to health. Last week we started to notice a little of it coming back, but she was still laying, her crown was still red and she was drinking and eating well. Yesterday she seemed fine and was fighting with her sisters for some treats we had put out. This morning hubby let the girls out and she was with them. Tonight we went to do our normal clean the coop, feed, change the water, etc routine and hubby noticed she was laying under the heat lamp and not appearing to want to move. We noticed she had the “poopy butt” back and so we took her inside to clean her and get some meds into her. We planed to keep her in the cage we use for sick or hurt ladies untill she got better again. unfortunately, after we brought her in and were preparing to put her in the sink to clean her up she had spasms and went limp. I admit I have tried to prepare myself for this day. Our chickens are not “pets”, but they are special as all animals you own are. I was sad and disappointed I hadn’t done anything earlier, or hadn’t seen the sign better. She is in chicken heaven now.
I also have another issue with a chicken I want your input on. We have a girl who lost some feather on the front of her throat and we thought it was from jumping the fence and she had already molted. The feathers have not come back and now her throat where the feather’s were is red and looks irritated. We use this spray that is purple and it seems to help for a bit, but when it wears off it is red again within the day. Any ideas on what it could be or how to treat it? I will try to post a photo tomorrow as I couldn’t get her to hold still today. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Seasonsgirl 
We also had chickens that weren’t technically pets and lost a lot of them, too. Watching them die slowly is the worst. I’m sorry about your lovely hen, but maybe now she can go have a grand old time in chicken heaven with our chickens. 🙂
Thanks for the understanding. I think it was worse as it was the first one I had lost as an adult that was my own. I hope she is in heaven with a bunch of new chicken sisters.
Hmmm…that smiley I added on the end seems so roguish and sarcastic…they should have an “encouraging smile” emoticon!
Got it. No worries I thought it was encouraging and to make me think the lady is happy in heaven 🙂
Could be red mange? You could call a vet and ask if chickens can get it. They are called hot spots, we had a dog that had a spot of fur missing from it’s nose and looked red and irritated, brought it to the vet and he said it was a hot spot caused by mange. All we did was put on a cream and she was fine after. I don’t see why mange wouldn’t effect chickens. Might be worth asking about or looking into.
Thanks for the idea I will look into that. Maybe call the vet.
I’m so sorry for your loss. I have six “girls” of my own, and I dread the day when I have to face the loss of one of them.
I’m fairly new to raising chickens, myself, so I’m afraid I don’t have any advice to offer. Good luck!
We had 10 now 9 and it was a hard loss being our first to die and only 1 1/2 years old. I hope all your girls live a nice long life.
Sorry that you lost one of your beautiful ‘ladies’. I enjoy your photos and hen stories. God bless.
Thank you. We were already planning for new “ladies” as the chicks are coming into the feed stores so I hope to have more stories and photos when that occurs. I am sad and a little depressed so I am praying for peace.
It is a sad happening, but we must live with such losses.
I guess that is always true, but there is a time to grieve and deal with new types of losses. I’m in that phase… it is sad.
I’m sorry 😦 I don’t know much about chickens, although we have six of them. DH grew up with them so he takes care of them, I just enjoy them and their eggs. I know if one died DH would cry…he’s sensitive when it comes to his animals 🙂 so no advice but I’m sure it’s not fun.
Thank you for your coment and understanding 🙂
I’m so sorry for your lost, even if they aren’t pets, they are beautiful animals whom you have grown to love and appreciate. It’s a very sad story and sorry to hear another one of them is not doing so well either. I really hope the vet will be able to help you with this.
Well said they are animals I have grown to love and apperciate and she died too soon. My other lady seems to feel fine she is just loosing feathers and I am getting some good advice on how to treat it. 🙂
How very sad – the first is always the hardest. Would be interested to find out what the trouble with the neck is.
Still don’t know why they she has lost the feathers, maybe the other girls have been pulling them out, or she had a bug or something, but I am getting good input to keep up with the purple spray, try a cream from Southern States, and if she doesn’t heal isolate her to see if they will grow back if the other ladies are not around. I will keep everyone updated 🙂
Sorry to hear you have lost one of your girls. Unfortunately it just happens. We have lost 4 of ours over 2 years. With regard to the red inflamed chest, keep spraying with the purple spray and it will eventually heal. We have experienced the same thing and this is what we did.
I know it happens, it’s just hard being my first as an adult and “my” chicken responsibility. I just kept feeling I could have done more. It will make me more vigilent with the other ladies. Thanks for the input we sprayed on some more purple spray today 🙂
Hej from Sweden!
Still in bed with an awful flu but read some emails today. So sorry about your loss. I know you love each and every animals, like me. Well you have a good outlook; she’s in chicken heaven. I hope you don’t feel too sad Seasonsgirö.
I am so sorry to hear you are still not well. Sending well wishing prayers your way. Thank you for your your wishes… I am sad, but after cleaning up the coop a lot, boxing up the dead girl and getting her ready for the burn barell, and checking the other girls I feel a little better. I am sure you know loss with your goats and it is never easy, especially the first time. Again I hope you get better soon 🙂
So sad about your chicken. We lost one of our girls recently and it was so sad. We have a chicken graveyard in the backyard. As for your current issue with the other chicken, I wonder if the chickens are pecking at it and that is why it is red? We bring our injured girls inside in the basement for a few days and it helps. Chickens love to peck anything that is different. Just a thought.
We thought about that too, we watched and they didn’t appear to be pecking at her, but we don’t know what they do before we let them out of the run in the AM so we may have to isolate her for a while. Your thought was a great one 🙂 Thanks for the thought about our dead girl and I am sorry for your chicken loss too 😦
We haven’t lost one of our girls yet, but I know it will be a sad time for the entire family. As you said, they aren’t technically pets, but they have names, personalities, and you get attached. I’ll be interested to see if someone has a suggestion about the spot because we have one with it. I’ll also look up the mange suggestion. Take care.
I have tried hard not to get too attached, but with caring for any animal there is a certain attachment. I found the mange pictures didn’t look like my girl and I am checking out backyardchickens.com for ideas. It may just be the other girls picking the feathers out so we are continuing to spray her with purple spray you can get at a feed store and a balm like a cream I will have to go look at the name of it. If it doesn’t help we are going to try to isolate her incase it is the other ladies picking on the feathers. I’ll keep you posted.
Did you try aloe cream? There used to be an old fashioned black salve called utter balm that we would put on it would cure almost anything. I think Watkins still carries both to this day. We used to use Raleigh Brand although I think they have been out of business for years. So sorry about your loss. A loss is a loss. Be it a domestic animal or one that you just have, it is still part of the family. Thank you for sharing.
Aloe Cream.. I hadn’t heard of that I will defently go looking and try it. The utter balm lotion we got today an put on her. Thanks for your kindness about the chicken loss… any loss is a loss an I apperciate so many recognizing that 🙂 Thanks for the idea on the aloe I am going looking 🙂
ask your local pharmacist or think of what you put on a child with chicken pox…honestly there was no pun intended there
Thanks for the idea 🙂
I am so sorry for your loss! I have lost many chickens to hawks, owls, foxes and illness and it still breaks my heart every time.
Last year we almost lost one to an animal and nursed her back to health…. now she looks great and is laying again. That was sad, but having one die in my arms was really tough, but I am glad hubby and I were there in her last moments. I am sure it will break my heart each time too. I hope neither of us have to experience that again anytime soon.
Sorry to hear that you lost one of your ladies. It’s OK to feel sad!
Thank you… I am greatful that so many are acknowledging my sadness and it helps me to cope better 🙂
So sorry! I still miss my pullet we lost to a predator. It’s hard when you hope to have them around a lot longer. 😦
Thank you for your coment and I am sorry to hear about your lady. I don’t think it is ever easy as one of my followers said you care about them because you care for them.
My heart goes out to you with the loss of your first hen. It’s really hard when they pass away. I always get so attached to my animals.
I have tried hard not to get too attached, but it is hard when you are carign for them multiple times daily. Thanks for the comment I apperciat it 🙂
Aww, sorry about your chicken 😦
Thank you…
I’m so sorry to hear you lost one of your beautiful ladies. Unfortunately I know firsthand how sad that is. Last summer I wrote abut losing one of our Leghorn pair, Lucy when our son’s dog got loose in the yard just shortly after we’d gotten our girls. Even though we hadn’t had them long it was still so hard nursing her torn up little body all night only to lose her the next day. Even if I hadn’t named them it would have been tough.
It’s hard to give any advise on your other one’s neck but I know with ours keeping the other chickens from pecking the raw meat was super important. That’s one reason I made sweaters for them (as well as keeping them warm) when a couple of them had bare backs. The other chickens love raw skin. When the new feathers came in for the most part and the sweaters came off we still powdered the small bare spot on Ethel (since she was white baby powder worked great) to keep the others from pecking the spot and making it worse and she finished feathering out beautifully. I would say keep what you have on her to keep that spot from looking raw to the others while you continue to try to figure out the cause.
Blessings on nursing her spot back to health!
Thank you for reminding me of your story and understanding. Also thanks for the input on the chickens neck issue. I got some cream to also use with the purple spray and hope it will help. I will do my best to get her back to health 🙂
Pets or not, they are still special when they are yours, sorry about losing your chicken that you already had nursed to health before. Did she have a name? Feel better soon!
No name we can’t really tell tell them apart she was just “sick girl” as we could only really tell her apart after she got sick and her crown shrunk some. It was getting bigger up until she got sick but the crown never stopped being red. Thank you for your concern and support 🙂
I understand how sad you must be about losing your first chicken. I lost my first one yesterday but I can’t bring myself to write a post about it yet. I am still trying to come to terms with it.
I thought it would make it harder, but it made it a little better to get it out and get support from my blogging friends. I am so sorry for your loss 😦
so sorry for you, I guess it will happen to me at some point, my sister has lost two recently. xxxxx
I am sure it happens to all of us. Lets hope it will be a long time for you if at all… Thanks for your well wishes.
yes hope so. x
🙂
So sad 😦 Best wishes with your new set of chicks though. I hope they cheer you up!
I am sure they will when we get them 🙂
I’m very sorry to hear this sad news.
Thank you.
Oh, I’m so sad that you lost one of your “ladies.” I’m quite thrilled with your beautiful photos of each of them…I’m praying that God will comfort you…you loved her, and nursed her, and now she’s in the arms of her Creator…
It’s a comforting thought for all of us, too…who have lost loved ones…people, pets, or animals!! God Bless!
Thank you for your concern and thoughts. God provided comfort and I am on the mend. 🙂
Amen! God Bless!
Thank you and you too 🙂