Selfsufficientish.com

A couple of weeks ago or maybe a month or two ago I went out to feed the chickens and the usually dominant chicken, Mrs Weasley, was struggling for breath. She was staring up to the heavens and her breathing was slow and laboured. The other chooks seemed a bit spooked, although i might have imagined this in a subconscious attempt to explain what had happened. Anyways, upon returning home later in the day MrsWeasley was in the same state so I opted to take her to the vet (she had popped out almost an egg a day for the whole of winter and i felt I owed her this much at least.) The vet could find nothing wrong with her and suggested a shock might have caused her strange breathing pattern He gave her an (expensive) painkilling injection and told me to keep an eye on her. The next day she was in the same condition...still staring up at the sky, her breathing still laboured. She hadn't eaten or drunk anything so i gave her a teaspoon of water which caused her to choke and then start violently spasming across the backyard. After a minute or two the spasming stopped and Mrs Weasley was no more. I know she's never coming back but an explanation for her death would help me come to terms with my loss. All I can think of is that she perhaps got some grass or string caught in her oesophagous??

Hi - So sorry - I am sure you did your very best for her - One always feels so guilty and is left feeling you could have done something different and it would have been better, but that is not anything you should be beating yourself up about - I am sure she had as good a life with you as she could have had.

If you want to do some research there is a page here on poultry problems, (though it generally puts me off keeping poultry ever again )

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/

This is just a suggestion and I have no experience of this but might it have been Mareks? I think this causes paralysis and breathing problems
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseasein ... ks-disease
I think many birds especially the hybrids are vaccinated against this as day old, but this only give protection for around 18mth, which is one of the reasons the big farms clear out their birds as they enter their first moult.

Anyway take care - kind thoughts
Sue

I'm sorry about your hen. I don't know what might have caused the problem but just wanted to say sorry and

so sad when you loose a friend

Thanks for your sympathy. Hopefully it's not Marek, DarkBrownEggs. Nobody will want to eat my eggs if one of my birds had a herpes related virus! Guess I'll never know how Mrs Weasley died....x