Reality on the farm...

Yesterday when I was in the chicken coop I noticed one of my Golden Comets was not acting normal.  She had distanced herself from the rest of the flock, her wings were drooping, and she kept drifting off to sleep.  I looked her over, couldn't find anything wrong with her, and commented to The Reluctant Farmer that I was worried.  That evening when we closed up the chicken coop, the little red hen was sitting on the floor of the coop, not resting on the roost with the other chickens and I knew immediately that something was wrong with her.  This time when I examined her, I felt what appeared to be an egg stuck in her abdomen.

We brought her inside the house and did all the things we knew to do for an egg bound chicken.  We soaked her in warm water, lubricated her vent and around the egg, and syringed extra calcium into her mouth.  This morning there was still no egg.

I contacted our veterinarian this morning, and going against anything I have ever done in the past, I took the chicken into the office to see if she would have any more luck than I at removing the egg.  She tried to move the egg out of the hen's uterus, but then noticed there was a tear in her uterus that would likely become infected and would kill the chicken anyway, so the decision was made to euthanize the hen.

Life always ends in death, there is no other option.  That's a reality around here....