Thanks for the sympathy. The worst was finding dead hens on the coop floor and hearing the rattling breathing of others. I had to dispatch those with symptoms right then to protect the rest of the flock.

We've had an awful lot of nights well below zero this winter. I've seen crows inside the coop shed, gleaning spilled feed and scratch, so who knows how the illness started? I feel fortunate that it didn't take them all.
I also feel fortunate that the weasel I came nose-to-nose with in the attached garage is TINY, either a juvenile or a stunted female, and apparently doesn't feel it can take on a full-grown hen in a flock. It was totes adorbs but I really wasn't comfortable being 18" from it.

We stared at each other for more than a minute. I was thinking, "You are so adorable but deadly and stay out of my coop!" I believe it was eyeing me and thinking, "If I can kill you, I'll eat like a king!" When I began moving slowly to try to get my phone out to snap a pic, it whisked away on silent little feet. A moment later I caught a flash of white out of the corner of my eye as it beat feet out of the garage under the far door.
Life in Tiny Town is always interesting. I've planned to rebuild the coop this spring but now I will replace the chicken wire with hardware cloth. I need to protect my flock!
I can't WAIT for the new chicks to get here!

I'll be drooling over everyone's photos as they are posted.