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Amen, Sister! So sorry about your wee one. Even the people who know most at BYC and provide the most conscientious care have had these same experiences. It's part of the terrain.

Thank you. As time passes, it feels better, but it's always hard in the moment, and a certain amount of loss stays ever with you, it seems. As you say, this imperfect world. Thank you for taking the time to do a kindness; you are appreciated!

My best advice would be to let her self-regulate. What's happening in their bodies is always somewhat obscured to us, and she's the best expert you have. My hen with heart failure kept drinking quite a bit right until the end, though she was too nauseated to eat. (She would approach food and...

I think that's so. Best to you, Chikn-Wisperer!

You sound like such a sweet soul, appreciating your hens as you do. You might try dex at the end of your cancer girl's life, if it seems she is having difficulty with pain related to inflammation. Re. gout, I had my mixed flock (four, now two, elders) and four still laying on an all-flock...

I certainly understand your concern. I had a salmon faverolle who was 3 when her crop just stopped working. Maybe an obstruction, as is possible with your girl. Like her, mine wanted to eat and drink, but it simply wasn't passing on and through her digestive system as it should have. I tried...

Thank you. It was really a roller coaster. After five days of Ginny not eating and drinking, and then just sitting, I was hoping she would peacefully die and was contemplating euthanasia. Then, during one my many offerings, she started drinking again, then eating. And then regaining mobility...

Thank you for your sympathy. I, too, hope the information is helpful to others. I would not have believed a drug could have such a dramatic effect had I not witnessed it.

I hope it does; my understanding is that meloxicam can help with inflammation-related pain, not sure it's effective with pain of other origins. You are kind to be helping rescue her!

I went for years without any parasite problems, then had an incident of mites, which I caught, too. (Fun!) Have never had another. Depending on the (possible) critter, you may need to go out at night with a flashlight to catch them moving. Given your hens' behavior, they may be especially...

You've gone to great lengths for her; you obviously love her. I'm no expert on x-rays, but I do think it's important to her psyche to be with her flock, not hospitalized. Whatever good being hospitalized does (or doesn't) do medically, it's likely not worth the stress of undergoing procedures...

Don't know if this will help, as I use the 7.5 mg Meloxicam pills. My vet recommends 1/4 tab once a day for a hen in need, without close attention to weight (though my girls are larger breeds, 5-6 pounds). 1/4 times 7.5 mg equals 1.875 mg. If each ml of your meloxicam contains 1.5 mg, you...

These are just hard decisions; you did your best. It's my experience that chickens actually do express pain, through slumped posture, ruffled feathers, piloerection (sporadic lifting and settling of feathers), immobility and desire (or lack of) to be with flock. At least those are the things I...

Mites or some other very tiny parasite inhabiting the perches?

Physical indicators can be deceptive before "male" or "female" becomes obvious. Behavior can be a clue; the last roo chick I had (accidental, like all the other "pullet" chicks I've purchased) was busy and bossy while they were still in the brooder. Of course, blond and brassy buff Orpingtons...

Wanted to post this for those of you whose chickens are demonstrating symptoms of tumors, which are sadly common as birds age, especially reproductive tumors in hens. I had an 8-year-old black Australorp, Ginny, who in January slowed down greatly, then stopped eating and drinking, then...

So sorry for your loss. End-of-life decisions are inherently fraught; no matter what you do, you will likely second-guess yourself. I just let an old hen die naturally (heart failure) because she did not seem to be in pain or distress and still wanted to be with the flock as she could. But she...

Love that you do what you can to give hens with salpingitis a reasonably comfortable life for as long as possible. You are paying attention to them and doing what you can for each individual.

Please, dear heart, do not question yourself. You did right by her. I just posted about second-guessing NOT euthanizing an old hen who had a heart murmur that led to heart failure. She died naturally this morning. (I lost another elder to cancer two months ago, via euthanasia.) Second-guessing...

Thanks so much. It really helps to hear that. I thought briefly Stella might be eggbound when she showed an interest in the nest box (though I don't think she laid even last year). Remote possibility, as I did not feel an egg. But it was a sweet experience giving her calcium citrate/D3, an...