# A chicken question



## leigti (Aug 1, 2015)

Hello, this question is for anybody who knows something about chickens. Today one of my chickens died.:-( it has been very hot here but my chickens free roam the yard and there is plenty of deep shade and water. I also hose down the bushes and the place they like to do their dust bath. And I had a mister out there A couple weeks ago I found this chicken Lane sort of on her side in the yard. But when I went to pick her up she jumped up and seemed fine and I haven't noticed anything different sense. Does anybody have an idea of what could have happened? A couple people have told me that sometimes chickens just die and there doesn't seem to be a cause. But I want to prevent it from happening to my others if possible. Any suggestions are appreciated. Also does anybody know a good chicken forum?  my animals are very important to me, and the fact that "it's just a chicken" doesn't mean I can't take as good of care as possible.


----------



## Tom (Aug 1, 2015)

I have about 30 of them. They frequently lay on their sides like that.

Every once in a while one of them just dies. I'd say one or two a year. We don't really keep track of their ages, so it seems likely that they are just dying of old age. We've had chickens for 20 years on the ranch. Every few years we buy a few new ones at the chick sale at our local feed store. We raise 'em up for a while indoors with the warm temps and then move them to an intermediate outdoor area. Once they are full grown we throw them in with the rest of the adults. We've got a constant mix of old and young ones.


----------



## leigti (Aug 1, 2015)

Tom said:


> I have about 30 of them. They frequently lay on their sides like that.
> 
> Every once in a while one of them just dies. I'd say one or two a year. We don't really keep track of their ages, so it seems likely that they are just dying of old age. We've had chickens for 20 years on the ranch. Every few years we buy a few new ones at the chick sale at our local feed store. We raise 'em up for a while indoors with the warm temps and then move them to an intermediate outdoor area. Once they are full grown we throw them in with the rest of the adults. We've got a constant mix of old and young ones.


This one was only a year old. She made it through three weeks straight of over 100° so I don't know if it was the heat that got her or not. There's plenty of places to get out of it. Plenty of water etc. it just surprised me. Now I have to chickens left. I want to make sure I don't lose another one. My cat died two weeks ago. It has not been a good month for pets in my house.


----------



## leigti (Aug 2, 2015)

I asked around and did a little research. I guess sometimes chickens just die for no apparent reason. They call it sudden death syndrome, who knew? Still sad though.


----------



## Tom (Aug 2, 2015)

leigti said:


> I asked around and did a little research. I guess sometimes chickens just die for no apparent reason. They call it sudden death syndrome, who knew? Still sad though.



Mine all live through 100+ temps all summer long, every summer. With shade and water, yours should be fine.

I am sure there is always a reason why they die, but who is going to spend $1000 on a necropsy for a $4 chicken? It may sound harsh, but with inexpensive livestock animals, it is sort of a "survival of the fittest" situation. Most vets don't have a lot of experience even treating them because people won't usually pay hundreds of dollars in vet bills for and animal that can be replaced for a few bucks. Sad maybe, but true. I've seen this with pet rats, gold fish and even cows. It costs more to haul a dead cow away than it does to buy a new one.

I'm sorry about your cat and your chicken. Its always sad to lose a beloved pet.


----------



## leigti (Aug 2, 2015)

Tom said:


> Mine all live through 100+ temps all summer long, every summer. With shade and water, yours should be fine.
> 
> I am sure there is always a reason why they die, but who is going to spend $1000 on a necropsy for a $4 chicken? It may sound harsh, but with inexpensive livestock animals, it is sort of a "survival of the fittest" situation. Most vets don't have a lot of experience even treating them because people won't usually pay hundreds of dollars in vet bills for and animal that can be replaced for a few bucks. Sad maybe, but true. I've seen this with pet rats, gold fish and even cows. It costs more to haul a dead cow away than it does to buy a new one.
> 
> I'm sorry about your cat and your chicken. Its always sad to lose a beloved pet.


Yeah, I'm not going to spend the money to get her checked out. You're right, it isn't worth it. Especially with all the vet bills I've had lately between my cat and my dog I sure can't pay any for a chicken. I have already decided that if one of my chickens get seriously hurt or sick I will have the neighbor come over and put it down quickly. That would be less stressful for the chicken and trying to haul it to the vet to be euthanized. I hate losing my animals, it is very hard.


----------



## leigti (Aug 2, 2015)

It really costs $1000 to have a necropsy done? Holy cow.


----------



## leigti (Aug 2, 2015)

Wow, I guess I sounded kind of cold and heartless. I didn't mean it that way.


----------



## mike taylor (Aug 2, 2015)

Chickens sometimes eat things that get stuck in their crawl . Then they slowly die .


----------



## leigti (Aug 2, 2015)

mike taylor said:


> Chickens sometimes eat things that get stuck in their crawl . Then they slowly die .


Oh man, that would be terrible. This was quick thankfully. She was fine earlier in the day and she even laid an egg.


----------



## Careym13 (Aug 2, 2015)

Sorry to hear about your chicken (and your kitty). I have four Silkies and although they are all doing fine currently, one of them nearly died a while back from what the vet said was vitamin E deficiency (I know...I'm crazy for spending the money...lol). Anyway, we came in one morning and found it with what appeared to be wry neck. He recovered, but when we found him he was laying on his side with his neck all twisted it up, it was weird. We also raise Button and Coturnix Quail (as pets...not meat) and every year or so we lose one or two. It is always sad, but like others have said, survival of the fittest I guess.


----------



## leigti (Aug 2, 2015)

Careym13 said:


> Sorry to hear about your chicken (and your kitty). I have four Silkies and although they are all doing fine currently, one of them nearly died a while back from what the vet said was vitamin E deficiency (I know...I'm crazy for spending the money...lol). Anyway, we came in one morning and found it with what appeared to be wry neck. He recovered, but when we found him he was laying on his side with his neck all twisted it up, it was weird. We also raise Button and Coturnix Quail (as pets...not meat) and every year or so we lose one or two. It is always sad, but like others have said, survival of the fittest I guess.


I'm not against taking a chicken to the vet if they're sick. Are the silkies the ones that kind of look fluffy? They have feathers on their feet? A lady at work has some that are like that, she says they're from Japan and they are blue. She also has a Turchin, half chicken half turkey. It looks like a buzzard  so darn ugly it's almost cute.


----------



## Careym13 (Aug 2, 2015)

leigti said:


> I'm not against taking a chicken to the vet if they're sick. Are the silkies the ones that kind of look fluffy? They have feathers on their feet? A lady at work has some that are like that, she says they're from Japan and they are blue. She also has a Turchin, half chicken half turkey. It looks like a buzzard  so darn ugly it's almost cute.


Haha...I've never heard of a Turchin...I'll have to look that up. Yes the Silkies are very fluffy. I have the bearded variety, so they have fluffy heads, chins and feet. They have blue skin and reportedly dark bones as well. This is my biggest rooster, his name is Dark Meat (very original...right?). The bow was borrowed by my friend from my Shih Tzu, who didn't seem to mind sharing.


----------



## leigti (Aug 2, 2015)

Careym13 said:


> Haha...I've never heard of a Turchin...I'll have to look that up. Yes the Silkies are very fluffy. I have the bearded variety, so they have fluffy heads, chins and feet. They have blue skin and reportedly dark bones as well. This is my biggest rooster, his name is Dark Meat (very original...right?). The bow was borrowed by my friend from my Shih Tzu, who didn't seem to mind sharing.
> View attachment 141822


They are so adorable! But they're not big egg layers are they? Here is a picture of a turkey, it's actually a breed of chicken but it looks like a turkey chicken cross to me 


Right now I have wyandotte chickens. I don't know how to spell it sorry. Next year I plan to get four more chickens, for a total of six. I haven't decided what breeds to get but I do like eggs and I'm not going to eat my chickens when they're done laying them.


----------



## Careym13 (Aug 2, 2015)

leigti said:


> They are so adorable! But they're not big egg layers are they? Here is a picture of a turkey, it's actually a breed of chicken but it looks like a turkey chicken cross to me
> View attachment 141823
> 
> Right now I have wyandotte chickens. I don't know how to spell it sorry. Next year I plan to get four more chickens, for a total of six. I haven't decided what breeds to get but I do like eggs and I'm not going to eat my chickens when they're done laying them.


Awww...its so ugly its cute!!! No, Silkies are not big layers but I've heard then hens can be very broody and will happily incubate the eggs of other chickens. We hatched ours from eggs over a year ago hoping to get at least one hen and all four ended up being roosters...ugh. But we don't mind, they are friendly and we would never eat any of them either....even when they crow non-stop  Oh and I use mypetchicken.com and backyardchickens.com for information, both sites are pretty good. Backyard chickens has a forum.


----------



## leigti (Aug 2, 2015)

Thanks. I think I have seen both of those websites. I don't plan on joining the forum now that I think about it. This one is more than I can handle already  but I will definitely check those out, my friend is going to build a new chicken coop for my increasing number of chickens. So I'm looking for a good design.


----------

