I have 13 chickens in total, five of which are 3.5 years old. Most of the 3.5 year olds have stopped laying, but are otherwise seemingly happy.
I noticed one of my girls looking droopy about three days ago. She was always pretty lively, so it was pretty noticeable. Wasn't standing tall and almost looked to be falling asleep standing up. She also let me pick her up easily, not something she's previously allowed. She'd clearly lost weight. She stopped laying probably 3 months ago and was a black sexlink.
At first I thought maybe an impacted crop (it felt full, but squishy). I isolated her and massaged the crop. Her condition seemed about the same yesterday, except I noticed her comb was very pale. She went to bed in the coop last night and I found her dead this morning.
Nobody has loose poo (the poo board gets cleaned daily), no obvious worms, no running nose or anything that seemed obviously wrong. I'm worried about my other girls, though they are currently acting fine. She doesn't seem old enough to have died of old age, but then I'm reading the sexlinks don't tend to live as long. Any ideas what might have happened to her and is there anything I should be doing for my remaining girls?
I noticed one of my girls looking droopy about three days ago. She was always pretty lively, so it was pretty noticeable. Wasn't standing tall and almost looked to be falling asleep standing up. She also let me pick her up easily, not something she's previously allowed. She'd clearly lost weight. She stopped laying probably 3 months ago and was a black sexlink.
At first I thought maybe an impacted crop (it felt full, but squishy). I isolated her and massaged the crop. Her condition seemed about the same yesterday, except I noticed her comb was very pale. She went to bed in the coop last night and I found her dead this morning.
Nobody has loose poo (the poo board gets cleaned daily), no obvious worms, no running nose or anything that seemed obviously wrong. I'm worried about my other girls, though they are currently acting fine. She doesn't seem old enough to have died of old age, but then I'm reading the sexlinks don't tend to live as long. Any ideas what might have happened to her and is there anything I should be doing for my remaining girls?
