Most of the time, chickens make awesome pets. But when you can't help them, it's not so fun. Some of you may remember that one of my hens, Fortune, had an egg break inside her last summer. She was very lucky to have lived through it, but was weakened. She stopped laying but has been doing rather well this last month (we thought). On Saturday morning we found her lying in the run on her side. She wasn't moving but was still breathing. She looked like she had been there all night. I wrapped her in a towel. And brought her inside before the other hens started hurting her. I held her for an hour, expecting her to die. She didn't so we put her in a tote with fresh greens and seeds and gave her some water. She had both and seemed to perk up. Yesterday she was much more alert and I started to think she might actually get better.
Today was bad though. She wouldn't eat or drink and has spent the last eight hours in unresponsive sleep (chicken coma?). I suppose that means death and it makes me so sad.
It breaks my heart to see her like this but neither of us can bring ourselves to end her misery.
I guess I'm just glad she isn't dying in the cold and I could at least make her comfortable.
Poor thing.Labels: chickens, urban homesteading