I have 15 black Australorp laying hens. They were bought at 1 year of age. About a week ago I noticed one hen with poor color to her comb. Over the next few days she appeared to become more lethargic but continued to eat (I never saw her drink). 3 days ago she stopped coming out for afternoon treats (bsf grubs or scratch grains). Upon closer inspection she's had a large anterior neck mass and I recalled reading about impacted crop. As I do surgery for a living I prepared to evacuate her crop. After I set up I examined her and realized they the neck mass was huge curvature of her cervical (neck) bones. She was very thin...almost skin and bones. Given that her energy level was almost nil I decided to euthanize her. Does anybody have any idea what might have been wrong with her. The other 14 are all doing quite well.
