We had 7 chickens given to us, 3 young ones(maybe 3 or 4 months old) from one place and 4(older ones) from another, they get along fine for the most part, other than a little competition over food. The are free to roam the yard and usually the big ones stay together and the little ones stick together. I noticed the other day Ali(one of my younger ones) wasn't feeling well, and by that I mean, she was lethargic, not sticking with the others, laying down, not grazing, barely able to keep her eyes open, normally she would run if I came close and she actually let me get close enough to touch her, so something was really wrong I thought at that point. But I'm completely new to this and inexperienced and I didn't really think too much of it(I just knew she wasn't acting quite right), we really only had them about 4 weeks, I just thought it was a cold or something that would go away, or maybe it was from the move and stress still, even though she was doing fine. I didn't notice discoloration, wounds, or fleas or lice. So I left her alone, later in the day, I went out to feed them, and she was already in the coop, on her roost. And didn't think much of it, but lets see what the morning brings. It just so happened that later that night when my fiancee got home, a huge feral cat in the yard, we live in the country and shoot wild animals, because of our dogs and cats that are outside at night. So while going after the cat, we notice Ali, dead. She was outside the coop on the ground, no blood, no nothing, just dead. Granted this was at 4:30 am so we really didn't inspect every inch. Today I reinspected Ali, and noticed, one leg had half of the toe gone. Is it possible that it was like this for a couple days, and she died of infection? Or could it be more serious, like a disease or something?
Also, her eyes were yellowish in color, I didn't notice discharge from the beak or eyes, the eyes looked a little wet but nothing extreme. I can't imagine what could have cut off her toe, but it was missing. We have roof on top of our coop so nothing can get in, but snakes through the cracks, we live in Michigan and don't have a snake problem, and I don't see a snake just taking a toe.
Also, her eyes were yellowish in color, I didn't notice discharge from the beak or eyes, the eyes looked a little wet but nothing extreme. I can't imagine what could have cut off her toe, but it was missing. We have roof on top of our coop so nothing can get in, but snakes through the cracks, we live in Michigan and don't have a snake problem, and I don't see a snake just taking a toe.
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