We lost Sunrise the hen. I went out after lunch and she was wheezing and trying to catch her breath. I couldn’t see anything down her throat, she was fine yesterday, no weepy eyes or stuffy nose. Just in case, I put her in isolation with food and water. She passed about three hours later. I had to know what killed her, so I managed to do a necropsy. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined, and nothing like trying to clean out an impacted crop (which is utterly disgusting). My eldest and I were able to identify most of the internal organs, and darn it all, before she died, she was still producing eggs despite the molting that has all the other hens at an egg laying standstill. Turns out there was a kernel of grain lodged in her trachea. That would certainly explain the signs and the quick passing. No pictures, because ew, but here is a drawing I did last year when Navi had an impacted crop.

I might have to buy eggs.