Sudden sickness?!? Please help!

[Allie❤️Chickens]

Today we went out to tend our chickens and noticed that one of our older Bovan Brown hens has suddenly gotten a floppy comb. She’s pretty latgargic as well, sometimes standing in one spot with her eyes closed. We’ve had other chickens become lathargic like this about six months ago. Four different chickens had it at all different times all four passed away at very seperate time. None have ever developed a floppy comb though.
Please tell me what this means. We don’t know how old she is for sure, but she is an older chicken, not really in her youth.

Here’s the pictures:

 

[Allie❤️Chickens]

Also we still don’t know the real cause of the other four chickens deaths.

 

[rebrascora]

Did you take any steps to find the cause of the previous deaths? Professional or home necropsy? Red sex links are particularly prone to reproductive issues, most of which eventually prove terminal but opening the bird up and looking inside really is the only way to find out what the problem was.
The hunched back, tail down posture of your girl here suggests that may be the issue with her. Do you know when she last laid an egg? Can you check her for any abdominal swelling, particularly between her legs or below her vent? Use your hand to feel because feathers cover these things up. Compare to a healthy chicken.... night time when they are roosting makes the whole job a lot easier as you can just cup your hand between their legs as they are roosting and feel one right after the next for a direct comparison. Are her feathers soiled below her vent? That can be an indication of abdominal swelling. How does her breast bone feel? Is it sharp under the skin (just skin and bones under those feathers) or does she have a reasonable amount of breast muscle for her breed.... again compare with healthy birds if you are unsure

Sometimes, at this time of year as they approach moult, they get low on calcium and lay a soft shelled egg. These can be really difficult for them to pass and make them feel very out of sorts. The floppy comb could indicate that she is coming into moult or dehydrated. I would encourage her to drink and put some electrolytes and vitamins in the water and perhaps give her a human calcium supplement crushed onto some scrambled egg usually gets it down them.

Have you checked her crop function? Can you feel anything in her crop? If so, check it at night, remove access to food and check it again in the morning. If it has not gone down she has a digestive blockage somewhere.... it may be her crop or lower down her digestive tract.....abdominal swelling would suggest it is lower in her gut.

If you can do the above checks and get back to us it may help us narrow down what is making her ill.

It might also help to know what you feed your flock both main feed and any treats including rough quantity of treats and between how many hens.

 

[Allie❤️Chickens]

Did you take any steps to find the cause of the previous deaths? Professional or home necropsy? Red sex links are particularly prone to reproductive issues, most of which eventually prove terminal but opening the bird up and looking inside really is the only way to find out what the problem was.
The hunched back, tail down posture of your girl here suggests that may be the issue with her. Do you know when she last laid an egg? Can you check her for any abdominal swelling, particularly between her legs or below her vent? Use your hand to feel because feathers cover these things up. Compare to a healthy chicken.... night time when they are roosting makes the whole job a lot easier as you can just cup your hand between their legs as they are roosting and feel one right after the next for a direct comparison. Are her feathers soiled below her vent? That can be an indication of abdominal swelling. How does her breast bone feel? Is it sharp under the skin (just skin and bones under those feathers) or does she have a reasonable amount of breast muscle for her breed.... again compare with healthy birds if you are unsure

Sometimes, at this time of year as they approach moult, they get low on calcium and lay a soft shelled egg. These can be really difficult for them to pass and make them feel very out of sorts. The floppy comb could indicate that she is coming into moult or dehydrated. I would encourage her to drink and put some electrolytes and vitamins in the water and perhaps give her a human calcium supplement crushed onto some scrambled egg usually gets it down them.

Have you checked her crop function? Can you feel anything in her crop? If so, check it at night, remove access to food and check it again in the morning. If it has not gone down she has a digestive blockage somewhere.... it may be her crop or lower down her digestive tract.....abdominal swelling would suggest it is lower in her gut.

If you can do the above checks and get back to us it may help us narrow down what is making her ill.

It might also help to know what you feed your flock both main feed and any treats including rough quantity of treats and between how many hens.

We just carefully ‘disposed’ of the chickens that passed away. Also we have no acces to vets or any other professionals that will help with chickens.

Feathers under vent are soiled. We have four of the same breed and can’t tell who’s laying or not, but her breast bone is very strange. At the very top near her head it sticks way out, then it curls into a crater, and then goes very sharply out again, where as the others like her have a smooth breast bone all the way down. She also has very watery and foamy poop that is a very light brown.
Pale comb and face as well.

 

[Allie❤️Chickens]

Update:

We just washed her vent feathers and vent and found that the vent is swollen and protruding.
Can anyone tell me what this means?

 

[rebrascora]

It sounds like she may have a prolapse. Can you trim the feathers around her vent and take a close up photo. What do you feed them. Dietary imbalance can be linked to prolapse. Check for maggots as soiled butts and prolapses are prone to fly strike.

I think you may be describing a contortion of her neck as well as the breast bone. I see that a lot when they get very sick and they pull their head right down and into their shoulders and the neck concertinas into a tight S shape. Sadly, I have not had one recover from that stage of illness, so it doesn't bode well.
For information, you can utilize your state Agricultural or Veterinary Diagnostics Lab for testing. Carcasses need to be double bagged and refrigerated and sent overnight in an insulated box on ice. They will have a web page which gives details of services and cost. Not saying you should necessarily do this but just letting you know that such services are available.

I'm sorry it is not looking good for your girl. Unfortunately hens are pretty stoic and hide illness until they are too weak and sick to give you time to figure out what is wrong and help them. Since you have lost quite a few birds recently I would reassess your flock's diet. A dietary imbalance over a long period of time will eventually catch up with them and can cause a multitude of issues and being such high production birds, diet can be quite critical. It may not be their diet but taking stock of what you are giving them and perhaps cutting back on any unhealthy treats is always a good idea, because we are all inclined to become progressively more generous over days and weeks and months without even noticing it.

The other thing to be aware of is that red sex links are particularly prone to reproductive ailments and malfunctions once they get beyond 2 years old, so if you are considering restocking you might want to consider a slightly less productive bird if they are also to be pets. I know red sex links are lovely friendly curious birds but sadly they often burn themselves out.