My shaft-tail hen died suddenly...

[sarehptar]

This morning my shaft-tail hen, Shorty, died. She was alert, eating, hopping around... I heard a strange flutter of wings from the cage, and when I looked over, I found her lying on her back. I turned her on to her side very gently, and her eyes slowly shut. Within a minute or so, she was dead. Her mate stood by her, nudging her with his beak and calling and calling...

She wasn't showing signs of any illness at all, so I can only assume she hit something. I feel like this is all my fault. Was it the way I designed or built the cage? Was it the way I set up the perches and bowls? I still have no idea what she hit, and now with the boy flying around wildly, upset and alone, I'm terrified he'll hit something as well.

I'm just heartbroken, and I don't know what to do now that I suddenly have an uneven number of birds.

RIP Shorty.

[Sunbay]

OH NO!

I am so, so sorry!

[debbie276]

So sorry for your loss, I wouldn't beat yourself up over it, sometimes these things happen.

[cindy]

I am so sorry for your loss, it is heartbreaking. I had 5 in a long flight, they would take of flying about as if in a game of follow the leader, often it appeared they were going to collide with each other when coming back around or they appeared to almost clip branches. They may have run into each other or she flew to avoid him and injured herself.

She may have also had underlying conditions and suddenly passed away. If there was no sign of illness it may be difficult to understand why this happens. Thoughts are with you.

[Ginene]

So sorry to hear about Shorty ...

[lyzzyjayne]

I am so very sorry to hear that. :'(

[sarehptar]

Yeah, still trying to make sense of what happened. Thanks for the condolences everyone.

My four birds were separated into twos, so it was just she and her mate in a 49"x26"x24" space. I think that it may have been a bit too much space for them in a sense, as they came from a tiny, tiny pet store cage and then lived in a 30x18x18 cage at my home for a few months--I noticed that she was a bit clumsy once moved into the bigger cage, sometimes fluttering around a while when moving between perches instead of going straight from one to the next. Maybe she wasn't used to navigating in a larger space and misjudged something.

The only other thing I could think of was that there was a somewhat narrow gap between the side of their food dish and a small treat dish which had their oystershell in it; even though the oystershell dish is plastic and weighs almost nothing, maybe she managed to get caught in this space and panicked, hurting her neck or spine in the process.

I have moved all the bowls and hanging dishes just in case.

Now I'm trying to figure out if I should just reunite the three I still have... Poor Mr. Chicken is still crying.

[RC#1]

Sorry for your loss