Yellowish comb, droopy 11 w/o Barred hen

[LilBrat]

Hi,
This afternoon on the "lunch run" through the coop, I discovered one of our barred hens just lying below the perches on the floor - upright, not panting but very droopy. She not only let me pick her up with no squawking but leaned right into me like she was cuddling.
I held her for quite a while and she just dosed off.

No eye or nose discharge.. no abnormal breathing.. crop not hard or crunchy.. no tenderness anywhere - she let me feel all over without complaining.

Her comb is pale yellow looking, as opposed to the other barred birds red combs.

I have her isolated, she doesn't want to stand up or walk, although setting her on her feet she's stable.. not tippy or off balance.
She's only been in isolation for an hour so I don't have poop information yet. She wouldn't eat or drink anything at that time but has food and water in with her.

The coop is unheated - 8x12 with very good ventilation - pine shavings on the floor and it's been very dry here in North Florida. It's been dropping into the 40's at night.. might she just have gotten cold?

The rest of the birds (almost 50 of them) are fine.. no other droopy chickens or pale combs in the lot.
They're still on chick starter with the occasional mix in of scratch and their "bug treats" from the yard - and whatever else they scratch up.

I've done several searches but keep coming up with yellow poop results instead of yellowish comb.

Anyone have any thoughts on what to do for her - besides isolation and pampering? Heating pad maybe?
I'm hoping that maybe I just walked in on a really good nap that she didn't want to get up from yet.

 

[silkiechicken]

Check for an impacted egg, or perhaps see if she has mites/lice, or lost weight. 40F nights wouldn't have done it, since that's often our day temps here in the winter.

 

[LilBrat]

*sniff*
I just came in from buttoning up the coop and checking on her and she's gone.

I am still a little squeemish about palpating a dead bird so I didn't check for an egg, but she was only 11 weeks.. too early for eggs - at least judging by when the older birds started laying.

The rest of the flock will be having all kinds of extra attention paid to them for the next few days.

 

[silkiechicken]

Oops, read 11 months.

At 11 weeks it could have been anything, but not an egg. If the rest of the birds are fine, I wouldn't worry. Still check for lice/mites, odd poos and so on just in case she was just weaker and succumb to the effects.

 

[LilBrat]

thanks

They're all pretty good size but are still my "babies"

they will be sick of me lurking around them by the end of the weekend.
*off to do a search on mites*