I am so sad. Went outside this morning to do the usual "chicken chores" of feeding, watering, giving treats, checking each bird's weight and crops to make sure they are eating etc, and everyone was great. My Spitzhaubens (1 hen and 1 roo) are separate from the other chickens and they were doing great as well. I picked up the hen to make sure she has mass and she was full of meat, but no food in her crop. It's COLD here (high 20's and snow), but they have been doing fine and this breed is especially cold hardy. I gave them dried worms and she came flying out of the coop to gobble them up. No signs of anything irregular or sickness. Just went outside now 2 hours later, and she was laying at the front of the coop deader than a doornail. WHAT HAPPENED?? No signs of any predator, no blood or ruffled feathers or anything. The roo was not picking on her, not egg bound, no mites or anything (plus its freezing here so not sure if those are even around at this time). Anyone have an answer or clue? The only thing I can think of is, she broke her leg right when we got her in April. She is about a year old now. We had two separate vets look at it and it healed on its own very quickly so they decided it was best to do nothing. They said she would always walk with a limp (which she did), but she never laid an egg. (Which the vet also said would be normal). So maybe there was an infection in her leg and we never knew about it? But that was almost 10 months ago and she has been fine. Any help would be greatly appreciated! And also- my roo is now in his cage alone. Should i add him to another flock?
