Lost our beautiful girl. Help?

[Hollysaurus]

Hello,

I am hoping someone could tell me what could of possibly happened to our girl, Maple. (I will attach some photos.)

We look after our chickens very well, I generally think this could be a cold weather incident. We had a shift in weather recently and it was sudden so I am feeling terrible we didn't turn on a heat lamp sooner. But i'll let you guys decide if you think that could be the reason. We spoil our chickens, I mean we spent about $4,000 just on their coop set up. We love them dearly, they came into our lives around a hard time so they're kinda like our children? Maple and Aspen are our first so it's absolutely devastating this had happened to my personal favorite.

She was completely fine yesterday, she had lost a bit of weight and I did comment on it. Other than that she was eating normal; even when I dropped treats she was eating yesterday, she wasn't laying eggs like the other girls too because they're all molting.

She wasn't egg bound, I do check when they don't lay eggs. No predator attack, no sour crop, none of them shown signs of breathing issues.

I am at loss.
Maybe worms? When they get anything I am on the ball with treating them.
I really hope you guys can shine the light here, I feel terrible.

 

[GodLovesU]

She looks just like my favorite hen who I lost almost 2 years ago. How old was she and how cold was it outside?

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Chickens don’t need a heat lamp and I’d recommend not to use one.

If she was loosing weight it could be worms, molt, stress or even Merek’s. If you still have her body you could send it to your state lab to get tested.

 

[PimsGarden]

Yeah idk, the only thing I hear that might be an issue is the heat lamp. They don't need that and can often get sick from being used to heat and then not having it. They can handle really low temps so long as there is not a draft on them.

Others might have better suggestions? I'm so sorry for your loss.