sunmanchicken127
In the Brooder
I have 8 chickens - 6 are about 8 months old, and 2 are over 2 years.
Let me preface by saying I went to get feed yesterday and accidentally bought pellets when I usually get crumble. I threw it all away because I fear this killed and made them sick somehow. I've given them crumble every day of their lives, and the day I accidentally buy pellets, one dies and the other gets ill. Most the pellets were gone that I put out in the morning, so they did eat them. There was way more spillage than I've had with crumble though and I am assuming they were digging through it trying to find crumble.
This morning I let them out and everyone was perfectly healthy. No problems, no odd behavior just 16 hours ago.
I went out to put them to bed for the evening and noticed 2 were not roosting. One was in the coop in the corner. The other was outside on the floor.
I went to grab the outside girl (~8 months old) and she barely moved and waddled to me. I immediately knew something was wrong and within 1 hour she was dead. She wouldn't touch food or scratch or water. She barely moved. When I brought her inside, she was vomitting brown juice. I was holding her upside down for about 13 minutes to drain the vomit and a good TBSP of vomit had come out. She then started flinching, I held her close and on the 14th minute she was dead in my arms. She's an Easter Egger.
I then went out to check on the other hen (2 years old). She is sitting next to this diarrhea -
I left for a time to bury my dead girl. I came back maybe 90 minutes later and saw a deformed soft egg next to that feces (I have been her caretaker for 6 months and have never seen this from her) -
From there, I put a bit of scratch and grit with oyster shell inside to see if she was hungry. She mowed it down immediately, and 2 birds jumped down from the roost to eat with her. She then jumped up to the roost like everything was normal. She doesn't look like she's dying or have that helpless, dead weight feeling my other chicken had. She seems lively. I don't even know if that diarrhea is hers. But she 100% laid that soft egg and then ate a bit of scratch before jumping up on the roost like normal.
Did I kill my chicken? Am I going to kill more? I am in shambles. Hit me with anything and any advice. I am getting their normal food tomorrow morning, I am sanitizing all their feeders and waterers, and I am going to look into diseases. It is worth mentioning wild birds have been eating a ton of their food the last few months and have been around them. I am new to this. This is my first flock and first loss and I believe I will lose more if I don't identify the enemy. Thanks in advance. I will read this in about 8 hours when I wake up and go get their crumble.
Let me preface by saying I went to get feed yesterday and accidentally bought pellets when I usually get crumble. I threw it all away because I fear this killed and made them sick somehow. I've given them crumble every day of their lives, and the day I accidentally buy pellets, one dies and the other gets ill. Most the pellets were gone that I put out in the morning, so they did eat them. There was way more spillage than I've had with crumble though and I am assuming they were digging through it trying to find crumble.
This morning I let them out and everyone was perfectly healthy. No problems, no odd behavior just 16 hours ago.
I went out to put them to bed for the evening and noticed 2 were not roosting. One was in the coop in the corner. The other was outside on the floor.
I went to grab the outside girl (~8 months old) and she barely moved and waddled to me. I immediately knew something was wrong and within 1 hour she was dead. She wouldn't touch food or scratch or water. She barely moved. When I brought her inside, she was vomitting brown juice. I was holding her upside down for about 13 minutes to drain the vomit and a good TBSP of vomit had come out. She then started flinching, I held her close and on the 14th minute she was dead in my arms. She's an Easter Egger.
I then went out to check on the other hen (2 years old). She is sitting next to this diarrhea -
I left for a time to bury my dead girl. I came back maybe 90 minutes later and saw a deformed soft egg next to that feces (I have been her caretaker for 6 months and have never seen this from her) -
From there, I put a bit of scratch and grit with oyster shell inside to see if she was hungry. She mowed it down immediately, and 2 birds jumped down from the roost to eat with her. She then jumped up to the roost like everything was normal. She doesn't look like she's dying or have that helpless, dead weight feeling my other chicken had. She seems lively. I don't even know if that diarrhea is hers. But she 100% laid that soft egg and then ate a bit of scratch before jumping up on the roost like normal.
Did I kill my chicken? Am I going to kill more? I am in shambles. Hit me with anything and any advice. I am getting their normal food tomorrow morning, I am sanitizing all their feeders and waterers, and I am going to look into diseases. It is worth mentioning wild birds have been eating a ton of their food the last few months and have been around them. I am new to this. This is my first flock and first loss and I believe I will lose more if I don't identify the enemy. Thanks in advance. I will read this in about 8 hours when I wake up and go get their crumble.