Death and Disease in the Chicken House

Hens headed out for the pasture on a nice summer day.

I lost a chicken last weekend. That's not a terribly unusual occurrence.  Over the years I've started many morning with the discovery of a dead hen in the chicken house. It's never a good thing but with all the wild birds around disease can come into the flock at any time.

This time was a little different however. Thinking the chicken lying flat on the floor (as apposed to sitting up on the floor or on a roost) was dead, I picked up the body and tucked it under my arm as I collected my watering can and  and left the chicken house headed for the garbage cans.

Surprisingly, even though her eyes were closed and her body appeared in rigor, the hen moved her head and made a tiny sound!  She was alive!  OK, I thought, I'll take her in the house and let her die in peace.  That was New Year's Day and the hen spent the day in a card box on my kitchen counter. By late afternoon she was still with me so I tried to get some water in her.  She wouldn't open her eyes or respond to the water, but I dipped her beak in it anyway.  An hour later I repeated the process. That evening I locked her up in the downtown stair bathroom with a little bowl of water and some tiny pieces of wheat bread.

 I figured she'd be dead by morning, but she wasn't of course. In fact, her eyes were open and she had obviously drunk some water. I had to go to work but the downstairs bathroom has no windows and I didn't want to leave her there all day with a light shining in her eyes. so I put her in her box in the bathtub in my upstairs bathroom - one that has a window for light. I also propped her head up with a rolled up hand towel so she could breathe better. She pecked at the bread and drank water, but her body was still flat and stiff like it was dead.

The hen lived on through the week, making no further progress toward recovery. She eliminated and the smell, even though I kept her clean, was not pleasant. I decided if she hadn't made significant progress with her legs by the end of the week I'd have her put down.  After all, she was a very old hen, about seven years at least.

A friend stopped by and I asked him if he would put her down for me. He took one look at her and said, "Ah, range paralysis.  You want to watch the rest of the flock, that could be very contagious". Fortunately, this was the hen that had been sequestered with Big Chicky to give him some company. But none the less, I've been keeping a close eye on the flock.  So far, no one is showing any signs of the disease. Bib Chicky is all alone, but shows no signs of disease, and the rest of flock, though unhappy about being confined to the chicken house, seems healthy.