So I am sad to report that Ginger abruptly died last Thursday. She was still living in her re-coop-eration station in our guest room, but I took her outside to peck in the yard with her sisters for about an hour, since it was 70-plus degrees and sunny. Raven, our alpha Barred Rock, pecked at/picked on Ginger a few times while they were all scratching around, so I separated them. Ginger seemed OK, and was munching on grass and bugs, and willingly came back inside with me. About an hour later, I heard her squawking in the guest room, then came in just in time to watch her flop from side to side, yell loudly, then fall flat on the ground, neck bent and legs straight out. She pooped and I knew she was gone.
I did have our wonderful avian vet perform an autopsy (technically called a necropsy) to see if we could identify anything viral or infectious we might need to treat the rest of the flock for. The vet said she did find remnants of one gape worm in Ginger's throat, so the preliminary diagnosis (and dewormer treatment) was correct, though it doesn't seem that's what did her in. The vet didn't find any spots on Ginger's internal organs, but did notice that her reproductive system had never fully developed, which it should have in a six-month-old bird. (Ginger never laid eggs - now we know why!) The underdeveloped reproductive organs and the fact that Ginger was lightweight led the vet to conclude that she likely had some failure to thrive issues going on since birth, and certainly wouldn't have survived as long as she did in a more hostile/natural selection environment.
The good news is that the vet saw no signs of infection (Ginger's airways and lungs were clear, aside from expected indicators of the sudden death), and says there's no reason to believe our other two girls, Raven and bell, have been exposed to anything dangerous. Both those girls are still laying regularly, eating, drinking and pooping like the bottomless pits they are, and are very active and responsive whenever I talk to them or come outside to offer them treats.
I DID change out the run flooring, from grass clippings to sand. (THAT was a gross chore.) Since we live in Colorado, the climate is arid enough to tolerate sand, and the run roof covers all but about six inches at the front of the predator-proof run, so I'm optimistic that I can keep the sand dry enough to prevent any future worm or parasite issues. The birds seemed a little confused by the sand at first, but they've adjusted well — although I do try to let them roam free among the backyard grass more often now, since they don't have as much fun stuff to scratch around in out in the run.
It's been a bit of a rough run with our first flock, which started out with five day-old chicks. We lost one a couple days in, then another died without explanation about a month before Ginger bit the dust. We've just got two left now, our BR Raven and our EE bell, but we are hoping to add a few new chicks in the spring to get our flock back up to full-size (our neighborhood allows four hens per residence). I'm hoping that most of this is just the beginner's learning curve, and that we'll have better survival rates with our next round.
Finally, if any fellow BYC-ers in Colorado (namely, Denver and the western suburbs) are looking for a kind, honest, and thorough veterinarian who treats and understands chickens, I cannot recommend Dr. Jen Schoonmaker at VCA Anderson Animal Hospital highly enough. (
https://vcahospitals.com/anderson) She never once made me feel like a crazy chicken lady, but patiently explained all our options, was respectful of my budget, and treated me and Ginger with the utmost compassion and respect. Thank you again to all you BYC-ers who weighed in here.
