Cinder Block Death

[Fuhrwick]

I had a really sad thing happen the other day. We had the chicken’s heated waterer sitting up on a cinder block. I have no idea why, but our huge Easter egger head hen tried to squeeze through the small opening and got stuck and died. I have no clue why she would try to fit through there but I am so upset and filled with guilt. Poor sweet thing. She was so sassy and one of my favorites. I am just so worried that she suffered. Has anyone else ever had this happen? If so please reassure me that it was a fairly quick death. I’m hoping she just panicked and had a heart attack and died quickly or couldn’t breathe and died quickly also. I hate to think about her suffering for a day and a half in there and that if I would have seen her I could have saved her. I can’t stop beating myself up over this. She was so wedged in, my husband had to break the block to remove her. (The reason we originally put the block in there was because when we had the water hanging, one day the plug came out of the bottom and all the water leaked out and they were without water for a day and a half. I felt so bad about that! So we put it on a block so the plug could not come out of the bottom.)

 

[sourland]

Sorry for your loss. Sooner or later something similar happens to many of us. Sometimes they just do dumb things.

 

[aart]

Oh, that's rough one.....condolences.

 

[Suzi18]

Don't beat yourself up. You couldn't possibly have known something that bizarre would happen. So sorry for your loss

 

[N F C]

Things just happen sometimes. All we can do is try to learn from them. So sorry for your loss.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I'm sorry this happened, it sounds like a freak accident that you had no control over. Chickens can kill themselves in the oddest of ways and we can't predict everything that can harm them.

I've had two chickens get killed when containers flipped over on them and they couldn't get out. One died of heat, the other of cold. I felt horrible. I had one chick that died after it got trapped under a hanging waterer (it was hanging an inch off the bedding and some how it tunneled underneath and got stuck).

You don't know, what you don't know.

 

[MissChick@dee]

So sorry for your loss

 

[The Phantom]

Sorry.

 

[Jessicanesh]

Sorry for your loss. I too once had a freak accident with one of my Easter Eggers. She was standing in the doorway when the automatic door started to close. Even though it takes two full minutes for the door to come down she still wound up with a crushed neck. I guess it was too dark outside and she was afraid to move.

 

[Fuhrwick]

Thank you all for making me feel better and reassuring me that it’s not my fault. I had a friend tell me that the cinder blocks look like nesting boxes and that’s probably why she tried to go in and I should have known. That just made me feel worse when I was looking for comfort! I had never heard of that before and I do read a lot about chickens and how to properly care for them. I also figured the hen would know it was too small... not to mention it had been in there for months with no issue. You’ve all been a lot nicer, and now I know for the future. When you know better you do better!