Hen loosing weight, messy feathers, pasty - parasites?

[Eggcessive]

New problems - I've now had a single hen in the house for about 10 days. She's recovered pretty much. She's not up to full weight still, but gaining. It's warm inside, it's below freezing at night outside.
1. How do I re-acclimate this hen so she doesn't go into shock when I put her back outside?
2. Now that she's been away from her flock over a week, what's the best way to re-integrate her? Was thinking of snagging a mellow hen from the flock and putting her with the recovered hen for a couple of days so they go back together and maybe that will lessen the upset?
I also still don't know what made her stop eating, and I'm wondering if she was getting bullied. If so, that could set us back to square one if she's going back out not at 100%.

I would start with some short times outside with her flock while you are supervising. Then place her in a cooler spot in side a dog crate in a basement, garage, or a cold room. Another way would be to put her back out with her flock in a dog crate with a double secured heat lamp or a heat plate where she can get near if needed. I usually try to keep sick or injured chickens with their flock inside a hospital crate so as not to run into problems with reintroducing.

 

[krthaymp]

She took a turn Wednesday and started to decline again, refusing food and water. This morning I found she passed overnight.
It really bothers me that I have no idea what was wrong. She just... stopped eating and thriving. I do think it was something internal, likely. The other chickens all seem fine and weathering this cold snap really well, but I'm keeping a close eye on them, and their weight now. I'm going to start weighing weekly, at least through winter, to catch anyone else starting to decline.
Debating on de-worming the flock with the pour on ivermectin. There's no evidence of mites, lice, or roundworms, so I don't think it's needed. No evidence of cecal or tapeworms either, so I don't think I need to break out the AquaSol. I guess just watch and wait.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Most state vets can perform a necropsy and do testing if you contact them M-F and send in the body. The body needs to be refrigerated, but not frozen. Sometimes by doing a home necropsy to view the abdominal organs will give you some insight of a cause of death. Salpingitis, water belly, or cancer can be seen. If you do one, take pictures of the organs to post here. What state are you in? Here is a list of state vets if you lose another chicken and need a necropsy:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html
If you attempt a necropsy at home, take pictures, and this video below may help in identifying the organs:

 

[krthaymp]

We aren't going to do a necropsy this time, mostly due to weather and time this weekend, but if I loose another one I may. I didn't really consider doing one myself since I'm not super familiar with the internal anatomy, but I did find the dissections we did back in school really interesting though so maybe I could if I loose another.
Unless I have reason to believe it's something contagious or environmental I probably won't do one, and I think this was a self contained illness, so to speak.
Thanks for that video! It's a really great learning tool.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

She took a turn Wednesday and started to decline again, refusing food and water. This morning I found she passed overnight.
It really bothers me that I have no idea what was wrong. She just... stopped eating and thriving. I do think it was something internal, likely. The other chickens all seem fine and weathering this cold snap really well, but I'm keeping a close eye on them, and their weight now. I'm going to start weighing weekly, at least through winter, to catch anyone else starting to decline.
Debating on de-worming the flock with the pour on ivermectin. There's no evidence of mites, lice, or roundworms, so I don't think it's needed. No evidence of cecal or tapeworms either, so I don't think I need to break out the AquaSol. I guess just watch and wait.