Comb and face: the ten-second read
Start at the head, because a senior hen’s comb reports on her circulation, her laying state and her general vigour in one glance. In a hen who is still laying it should be plump, smooth and red; in a resting hen it shrinks and pales, and that rhythm is healthy — what is not healthy is a comb that turns dusky or purple, shrivels outside the moult, or develops dry white scaling. Her eyes should be bright and round, nostrils dry, and her beak clean. Her wattles tell the same story as the comb and are worth the same glance. Note what you see against last week’s look, not against a young hen’s; the value of the check is the change.
Activity: what she does with her day
Watch her before you catch her. A senior in good shape leaves the coop willingly in the morning, scratches and forages in spells, dust-bathes, and keeps herself within the flock’s loose company. Age slows the tempo — more sunbathing, shorter expeditions — but the pattern of joining in should hold. The bird who sits puffed in a corner, stays on the perch long after the others are down, or is left behind at every feed is standing out against her own normal, and that contrast, spotted in the weekly round, is your cue to look closer that day rather than next week. Do the round at the same time of day, ideally as the flock settles, so one week’s bird is fairly compared with the last.
Appetite and the crop: morning and evening
Appetite is best read through the crop, the pouch at the base of her neck. Feel it last thing: a hen who has eaten well carries a comfortably full, soft bulge. Feel it again first thing next morning: it should be flat and empty, the day’s food moved through. A crop still full and doughy at dawn, or sour-smelling, means food is not clearing and she needs a vet promptly rather than observation. While your hand is there, run it along her keel bone — the flesh either side should feel steady week on week, because a keel that grows sharper while her appetite ‘seems fine’ reveals weight slipping away unnoticed.
The rest of the minute: vent, droppings, breathing
Turn her gently and part the feathers below her vent: the skin should be clean, and this is where lice gather and lay their egg clusters, so look for crawling specks and grey crusting at the feather bases. Check the droppings under her perch spot — formed, with the usual white cap; persistent watery droppings or blood are findings, not age. Listen for a moment: breathing should be silent at rest. A hen whose comb has gone purple, whose crop stays full overnight, who has stopped eating, or who breathes with effort needs a vet the same day; seniors fade fast, and early is the whole point of checking weekly.
Spread across a flock, the round takes minutes, but only if it is somebody’s named job rather than everyone’s vague intention. Setting it as a recurring Care Teams duty in KinsLe — same day, same order, comb to crop — means the check survives holidays and busy weeks, and the timestamp shows it was done.