My 15 yo Daughter finally wore us down and last summer she purchased 4 silkie chicks, all hens. They have been the most fun and we all just adore them. My daughter walks them on leashes, cuddles them every night before bed, goes out and reads them books. They are the most spoiled chickens ever. They are most definitely pets. They just turned 10 months old a couple of weeks ago and they have been giving us eggs since about February. Yesterday, after school, my daughter went out to spend time with them as she does everyday and she found one not acting quite right. She was not walking well and kept falling over. She called me out and within 5 mins she could not stand at all or hold her head up. We tried to entice her with some treats but no response. I picked her up to examine her and she started opening and closing her mouth, without a sound. She then suddenly started to flap her wings, made a couple of small squawks, her head went back to her back and she just died. It was horrifying. I have done a little bit of research and can only come up with Sudden Chicken Death Syndrome. Does anyone know if this can be an option on such a young hen? I see lots of reference to this in roosters but not much with hens and nothing for this young? If that is what happened to our Pippy, I can accept that it was a freak thing, but I would like some reassurance that I have come to the right conclusion. Of course, we are now super worried about the other 3 hens and hoping that it is not something else that could effect the rest of our very small flock. Any advise and words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Here is a picture of our little angels in the fall. Pippy is the one closest to the pumpkin.
