Goodbye to Anna

Unfortunately things are not so good now, where the chickens are concerned.  Yesterday morning we noticed Amber was pecking at Anna's rear end as she squatted passively and Bella started to join in.  Hubby went up to chase them off and Anna ran upstairs into the roosting area, so he was able to shut her in before dividing the ark off from the run and shutting the other two chickens in the run so they couldn't get at Anna when she came back down.  He said noticed some blood in the roosting area and a bit on her and there was some on the egg Anna had laid, but hubby couldn't see anything much and wondered if she had suffered a slight tear, although the egg she laid was only slightly bigger than her last eggs.  Hubby thought I ought to wash Anna later to clean her up.  He had to go to work, but I wasn't due to go to work yesterday.

So once I'd washed and dressed I went out to look at Anna and found more than just a bit of blood on her.  It was very clear to me that she had suffered a prolapse, so I found a large cardboard box, which we had, luckily, and put her in it and made an appointment to see the vet, who not surprisingly, thought it best to put her down.  He could have pushed everything back inside, but the next egg would have pushed it all out again.  It seems a sad end to a lovely young chicken's life. It was only six or seven weeks ago that we joyfully brought Anna and Bella home.

Anna in typical hunched sick chicken pose.