i have had chickens for about 6 years now and they are strictly pets. I don’t even eat eggs. But I have gotten so attached to each of them that if they die I am absolutely devastated and it takes more than a day or two to act at least halfway mature about it. And the money I have spent on meds. Two gallon size zip lock bags full. The last one I lost was in June. She had been laying around a lot and had quit laying. But I couldn’t feel an egg but she would go to the nest box a couple of times a day but no egg. But one day I say this small tan colored “thing” in the nest box that looked lik it had pieces of possibly egg shells in it. After researching it Ifound it was a lash egg and that was from salpingitis (I think) but it was a sign the hen wasn’t going to survive and she didn’t. It still brings tears to my eyes . So from a total of 6 hens 2 years ago I now have 3. The youngest one an australorp is a spry, curious little chicken until a couple of weeks ago. I had a snow cone that she sneaked and got into and I was concerned she had eaten too much sugar. By the next day she was laying around with her eyes closed but she has a good appetite but likes water better. She began to seem like she felt a little better. Then they started molting and we have been a very bad heat and humidity wave with temps in the high 90’s and 100+. Now she is again laying down almost constantly with her 2nd eyelid closed. But when I call her name she jumps up quickly her eyes darting around so she is easily roused. And drinks so much water. This morning I went to the grocery and bought a small watermelon. I cut it into quarters and she ate over half of that quarter piece of watermelon. But goes and lays right back down. She stopped laying when she got sick the first time and she never started back. I don’t know if she is having a hard molt and with the heat it is making her feel particularly bad. I can’t afford a vet that knows nothing about chicken ailments, and none of them around here do. I don’t want to start giving her antibiotics because I don’t know what’s wrong with her. TMI for sure but does any one have any thoughts?
