Sick or distressed?

[Martha80]

It's been cold (40"s-50's), rainy and windy for three days so the chickens have pretty much stayed in the coop. This afternoon, noticed that the Americauna was acting strange. Standing, puffed up, head pulled back into shoulders, debris (feathers, bedding material) stuck to legs, uninterested in the goings on of the others. Eyes and nose are clear. I did see her drink when she was near the waterer. Saw her take a few pecks from the other hens. She's been laying for about 4 wks, got a blue egg yesterday but not today. - Is she sick? or being abused?

 

[klmclain1]

Poor baby..maybe she's "low man on the totem pole"...although the fluffed up part concerns me. Have you wormed your flock lately?

 

[MetalSmitten]

my chickens will sometimes do that when they're cold, but the debris on her legs concerns me. does it look like she's having abnormal poo? i would isolate/quarantine her to be on the safe side and keep a close eye, any further symptoms can then be identified more easily and hopefully treated. good luck with her.

 

[Martha80]

She was dead this morning. No signs of injury, scale, discharge, swelling etc. All 8 other birds seem active and normal. What could this have been? Something just affecting her? (hope)

 

[MetalSmitten]

sorry to hear

it could've been any number of things really, sometimes doing a necropsy is helpful in determining cause but sometimes not. could've been worms, or a disease (keep a close eye on the rest of your flock), an internal injury you didn't see, egg bound, pneumonia, heart failure, etc etc. if i were you, i would either dissect her looking for abnormalities, or send her someplace for a professional necropsy. otherwise you'll never know. unfortunately this is just one of those things that happens sometimes when you have animals.

 

[Martha80]

I think maybe she got wet and chilled. The temp dropped 30-40 degrees and it blew and rained for the last three days. Could pneumonia take her that fast?

 

[DDRanch]

I am sorry to hear this. I have had a single hen die without any health effect on the rest of the flock and without any obvious signs. Sometimes, you just don't know.

 

[seminolewind]

Sometimes, you will just never know what made them die. The best we can do is guess.
Sorry.