madphil101 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 We had 11 birds until last night. 2 white cherry valley ducks, 2 wessex (I think) hens, and the rest are mixed birds from a friends group, which are mixed of welsummer, sussex and brahma. 3 are ginger coloured with black flecks in their tails and one of those ginger ones has fluffy bantam trousers. One is a big white bird. Then there are 3 little ones from teh same group, but 5 months on. They all get on ok, subject to the usual pushing and shoving etc. On Monday night one of pea or pod (the ginger ones we couldn't tell apart!) went missing. We searched the whole garden for her, no sign. It turned out on Tuesday morning she'd nested in the garden and hidden herself. Last night she went to bed as normal. This morning one of them, Pea or Pod was dead in their house. (They have a stone wendy house that was at the end of our garden.) Aside from being absolutely gutted I'm wondering if I ought to be doing anything to make sure the others are alright... There's no visible signs of distress and she was stiff by the time I found her (closed up at about 6 last night, opened up at 7 this morning when it got dark and light respectively). Do you think she got cold the night before and then fell over last night or should I be checking for something more serious? She's not laid an egg yet, and the other ginger ones haven't laid either yet. (they are girls!) but the white one only laid her first egg on Friday. Do you suppose her egg laying was part of it? Do birds sometimes die trying to lay their first egg? Help! Feeling pretty miserable and worrying about the rest of my girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Hi, I am sorry about your hen With no obvious signs of illness or injury its hard to know what happened Death from a problem egg is a possibility I suppose but there would normally be signs of unhappiness in the hen I very much doubt that the cold caused a problem It could be that she was sick so hid away the previous night - she might have had an underlying problem, sometimes the others may pick on a sick bird which would explain why she didnt go to bed with the others Sadly death in young birds is not rare, it seems a shame when they are so young though Just keep an eye on your other birds for sickness and let us know if you spot any problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madphil101 Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 Thanks for your help and kind words. Poor little thing. I did wonder about getting a big stone waterbottle to go in their house to keep them warmer. They have shredded paper but then they roost on a perch so it seems a little unhelpful. Ditto the waterbottle though. I'll keep a close eye on them and try and make sure that they are all eating plenty tonight before they go to bed. I have some nice grainey bread so I'll make them a nice warming bread porridge. They like that. Cheers again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Thats it, warm porridge (pellets and water) or a handful of corn will give them a boost for the night To be honest you don't really NEED to do that - they are wearing duvets and will be absolutely fine - I think it just makes us feel better and it certainly does help them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madphil101 Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 I know they live under trees and I know that when I went to Iceland they were everywhere and flourishing, but you kind of feel that you have to protect them and keep them all snuggly.... And ours are spoiled anyhow. Fed 3 times a day and at least one hot meal. And run of all the garden too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Shirl Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 So sorry about your little girl. { hugs} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Sorry to hear it. They do just keel over occasionally, with no obvious cause. I'm sure that doing things differently would have made no difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluckingmad Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 you poor thing, what a sad thing to happen Does sound like somethign underlaying was the cause tho', sadly they do sometimes just keel over. *hugs* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoopsie Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 So sorry to hear about your girl. i hope the others will all stay healthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick wiggle Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 So sorry to hear about your girl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
