My older hens get " hunched up" looking and die a few days later

[june1684]

I have /had 6 laying hens I bought as day old chicks around 6 years ago... I have lost 4 of them in the last 6 months... they seem fine, then one day I look at one of them and she looks " hunched up" then dies a few days later. Is this a normal old age way to die or is something making it rounds in my chicken coop... I have two remaining original hens in there, a golden sex link and an americana... I have lost two barred rocks and two red sex links... thanks for any input

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hunched up is a general sign of ill health in a chicken. They will hide illnesses up until the end. Chickens generally die in two ways, the way you are seeing with them looking bad for a few days to a few weeks before dying, and for them to just die one day.

Your birds aren't really old but most of my chickens will die between 4-6 years of age from various things with the rest living longer.

You would need to do a necropsy on your hens to know for sure why they are dying. My guess is from all different internal things. I would only get worried if large numbers are dying together or if there seems to be more obvious symptoms that they all share.