Thank YOU!

Thank everyone for your help. You guys are such a valuable resource. We had another hen die this afternoon. She was down and not walking around this morning when I got home. I put her in a carrier and brought her into the house to keep her from being attacked. She died before I left for work this afternoon. Alex called the University of Maine, Extension Services today and even they were stumped. They did have some good ideas. We will take our hen to Orono, Maine to have a necropsy done tomorrow. I'm familiar with an autopsy because of being a nurse. Now we do this on chickens! What an informative act. Hopefully we will have some answers. Per the extension center, chickens rarely attack a healthy bird. These birds have no outward symptoms, no cough, no nasal discharge, no diarrhea. We are changing a couple of the brooder lights to infrared to decrease the stimulation. We have to keep the lights on 24/7 to keep them warm, now they will have hours of darkness. A more natural state. We are not changing their feed. Evidently that may stress them more. We do hang cabbagges from string for entertainment, both theirs and ours. With the warmer days (>0-20)we are letting them out of the coop to roam around the barn. We are giving them warm oatmeal, compressed seed/foraging blocks and the occasional eggplant and squash. Next they come into the house and watch TV on the sofa. Well, not really but it is an idea. Thanks again for the moral support and advice. Blogger friends are very supportive and highly intelligent. I took a poll!