Hey, everyone! I know this is an older thread, but I, too, came home tonight to discover one of my girls had died.
I had 10. 5 RSLs, a RIR, 2 Barred Rocks, an Easter Egger and a Golden Polish. My 5 non-RSLs just turned 2 years old 2 months ago (maybe 3 years...I've lost track LOL) and the 5 RSLs are just over a year and a half, I believe. It was one of the RSLs that died. I had given them some scratch for the first time in about 2 weeks and, of course, they were all over that stuff. Several of them tend to start sneezing after eating the scratch, but she was the only one this time and it seemed to be louder than usual. I didn't think anything of it because it was pretty normal behavior and she wasn't acting strange. In fact, it was one of my Barred Rocks that was acting strange...all puffed up like she had eaten way too much.
My husband and I went out to dinner; left before it got dark so the chickens were still out in their "corral" and we returned home about 2 hours later...after dark and, as usual, my girls had put themselves "to bed" in the coop. My custom is to go out and count them to be sure all of them made it in and then close the chicken run for the night (they free range in the corral during the day).
Anyway, I went out to count the girls and she was laying underneath one of the roosts...clearly gone. The rest of the girls were fine. My husband and I cleared her from the coop and I hope tomorrow morning the rest of the girls will still be fine. From the looks of it, I think she may have suffocated or choked. She looked kind of bluish. Of course, I feel absolutely horrible and wish I had paid more attention, but even if I had, I'm not sure I would have had a clue what to do for her.
Thanks for letting me process via this forum! You all are the best.
