Dead chicken

[springvalley123]

To start out we found an area on her chest that did not have feathers growing. The only way to see the bald spot was by moving the other feathers out of the way.

Any chance she was starting to be broody? They'll pull out their own feathers to make nesting material. Being broody is very hard on a bird, especially if you're in a warm area of the country--maybe that plus the lung issue? The birds I've processed, the description of the heart size sounded normal to me.

 

[Jackie-83]

Ok, good to know on the heart size. As for her being broody... I'm not sure. She was not one to linger in the nesting box. She would be in and out in 30 minutes. I live in Alabama. So yes its hot and humid. My first thought was that she got too hot. But we had thunderstorms the night before and it was actually fairly cool. So i dont know. Everyone else was happy and comfortable.

 

[Jackie-83]

Oh, and the area that was missing feathers looked fine. No redness or anything. And actually the skin was totally smooth there... like maybe she had never had feathers there.