Stick tight fleas. I was unaware for quite a while that I had them on my flock since I've never seen one before. But one of my Polish hens got listless and thin when she used to be active and good weight. I did a thorough hands on and her face was covered with these blood sucking fleas. Then...
The chicken community appears to be overwhelmed with problems with the cold. I think it hit kind of early this year. I think we should all pay attention to what we can do better about insulating chickens from the cold, Vaseline on the combs, and most importantly- frozen water and chickens...
I've had chickens for 10 years. Most of my chickens now are silkies and Polish. I have 3 10 year olds still hanging in there. One's blind and one's super bow legged.