Wednesday, June 22, 2011

more losses :-(

RIP Dizzy, our awesome white leghorn girl... just a year and a half old, found her cold and stiff on the coop floor Sunday morning - no idea why she died, she seemed fine the day before. Her skin was almost purple, her legs stretched out straight from her body, wings tight on her side, neck bent towards her chest and eyes closed. No broken neck, no signs bodily damage.

Any idea what could have caused her death?

RIP sweet Holly, our gorgeous buff orpington hen (July 18, 2010 - June 22, 2011).

Holly got sick this spring along with quite a few other hens, some sort of pneumonia. Three girls died before I got my hands on penicillin, which didn't eradicate the illness but allowed a return to normal life for the survivors.

Except Holly fell sick again about 3 weeks ago and this time meds didn't do a thing - she stopped eating and drinking and never managed to shake it. After 10 days in isolation I stopped treatment and put her back with her flock so she could have a few nice last days in the sun...

Three days ago she crawled under our back deck and never left.

She was waiting for death, which came and took her away sometime during the night.

Even an expected and in this case a welcomed death for a sick and suffering creature strikes a blow. Holly was our big silly fluffernutter, the cartoon of the flock, gentle as a feather duster but three times cuter.

Not a happy day :-(

5 comments:

Denise at Autumn Sky said...

I'm sorry. It's hard to lose our hens. We lost Big Girl last week, our 2-yr-old Buff. She was very sweet. I think her immune system was compromised from being sick when she was young. When the 100-degree temps hit, she just couldn't deal with it. They just don't live very long and we get so attached to them.

Anke said...

I am so sorry. I know how much you love your chickens and how sad this must make you.

Unknown said...

so sorry to hear your sad news. sometimes things just don't make any sense.

Foothills Poultry said...

Sorry you lost these. You did what you could for Holly. Some just will not respond to treatment.

Sudden deaths are harder on us because chickens can be taken down by so many things. When it happens so suddenly all we can do is worry about the rest. I guess I ain't helping a bit.

~~Matt~~

Debby@Just Breathe said...

So sorry. ((HUGS))