Yesterday when I came home from being gone overnight my husband informed me that Cruella was under the Coop DeVille and was not doing well. He said she her comb was white and she was all fluffed up with her tail at half mast. I immediately went to go check her out, she was indeed pale and not in good condition at all. She is one of the few girls that knows her name and as soon as she saw me and I said her name she kind of perked up and looked at me as if I was her momma. I crawled under the coop and gathered her up. She just went limp in my arms. I have never seen any of my girls so pale.
Cruella is by far my biggest girl and quite heavy, but so gentle and sweet. While being the largest girl, she was far from the top of the pecking order. She enjoyed being held and sitting on my lap. One time she even pulled little Rosa down off my lap by her tail feathers and promptly jumped onto my lap. Kind of like a jealous puppy.
So we took her up to the garage to my chicken hospital. Gave her a physical and got her settled into the kennel. I had a few ideas, but nothing concrete. She did a have bumblefoot, and a sore near her vent. She spent the night in the kennel and seemed to be better this morning. This morning I had to try to force her to drink and to eat, but she wanted nothing to do with that. I was sad, but she did seem to have perked up a bit. I checked on her several times today, but started to become more and more concerned that she had either an egg stuck in her or had one break inside of here. Around three I went to check on her again and her comb seemed like it was getting more pink and she seemed more alert. I held her for a while and petted her, she is such a sweet girl, even though I know she was not feeling well, she just looked at me with the sweetest eyes. Again, I tried to get her to eat and drink, but she refused. She settled down again near the heat lamp, obviously weak. I was feeling a bit hopeful and decided that she physically looked better than she did yesterday.
Not more than an hour later Alex came home and told me that when we walked through the garage she was dead. My heart just sank. I ran to the garage and sure enough she was dead. I find consolation in the fact that she is not suffering. It still hurts and I hate to see any of my girls die like this. She was young, less than a year. Upon further inspection of her body (yes, I always check them out after they die, this helps me learn) I noticed more odd colored discharge from her vent. Upon closer inspection I discovered what appeared to be egg inside of her. Looked like she had an egg break inside of her. This can cause them to become quite sick very fast, and sadly there is not a lot you can do in this situation.
I am still amazed how much I have learned and continue to learn from my girls. It only stands to reason with the number and ages of the girls that I have that I will continue to experience a full range of emergencies and ailments. It is part of raising them. I never ever imagined the deep feelings I could develop for a chicken. It know it may be hard for some people to understand, but it is what it is for me. I find great joy in keeping them, watching them grow, seeing the personality emerge and collecting their eggs.
On a lighter note, I still have three that are broody on and off, they crack me up and I enjoy listening to them coo and chatter back and forth as they sit in the boxes. And it is with a happy heart that I think about the babies that will be here in March.
RIP Cruella
