My chickens are dying.....Please help!

[Princefarms12]

I am new at raising chickens and we have had great luck with them until the last month. Every day my kids and I go out numerous times a day to pet the chickens and make sure they have everything that they need. A month ago we went out to feed and all my girls came running to me like normal, but when I turned around I saw one laying on the ground dead. They were all fine the night before that. I figured it was a fight between the hens that killed her, since she had a mouth full of feathers.

But this morning I went out like normal to check on everyone, and I seen another chicken dead. I am starting to get worried about them. We have invested so much money and time I don't want to loose anymore. I just don't know what could possible be going on. My kids and I are very worried that we will find more dead chickens. Please Help !!!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

To be honest with you i don't remember the brand of wormer I used that was a couple weeks ago. I didn't give another dose due to the fact that I didnt notice any worms on the ground right after they would poop. We go through a 50 pound bag of feed every 2-2 1/2 weeks. with the last bag I was feeding 19 chickens. But since I bought a new bag I have sold 7 of them 5 being roosters. But I always make sure that they have feed in the container and water in their for them.

I have felt the keel bone and they are not a thin as they used to be. Besides laying around and being pale they seem to be fine.

I do have one hen in a completely different area that I am just figuring out has mareks. So I am not even sure what to do for her. This is so frustrating.

And I haven't noticed them being egg bound but I can go check again.

I wish I would have been warned about how difficult it is to raise chickens.

For 19 birds going through 50 pounds of feed in 2 1/2 weeks is not great consumption, especially given that you had recently stopped free ranging them so that the feed was their sole source of nutrition. On average you plan for 1/4-1/3 pound of feed per bird, per day - meaning for 19 birds you would expect 50 pounds of feed to run you 8-10 days give or take. Were the cockerels you recently moved out of the flock harassing your pullets? For 5/19 to be male you can run into issues of abuse/overmating/stress of the females. Do you have just one feed station or more than one? The fact that the remaining birds are gaining condition leaves me to wonder if there was an issue of some of those who have been removed from the flock having been dominant and claiming the feed station - causing the low consumption rate of feed and the underweight/poorly conditioned birds.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Welcome to BYC! I am sorry you have come under these circumstances, but with a little more informaiton we may be able to help you.
What breed(s) are your birds? How old are the birds and how long have you had them? How many birds total are you keeping? What condition was the bird you found today in? Are your birds free-range 24/7, confined at night or confined to a coop and run at all times?

 

[Princefarms12]

I'm sorry I am so upset about the situation I forgot all that info. I purchased them in March 2015 as chicks. I have Rhode island reds, barred rock, and in June I purchased 6 ameraucanas for a total of 20 chickens. We were letting them free range for most of the summer, then we enlarged the coop that we had so we put them back in the coop last week.

Both of my chickens that died were Rhode island reds. The first one I found her on her back with he head stuck under something so I figured that which ever chicken attacked her just got her pinned down. But the one today was just laying on her side on the floor of the indoor part of the coop.

And another question I have now is since they had started laying eggs already, should i worry about the eggs that I currently have?

And thank you for welcoming me in the group and for trying to help us!

 

[Princefarms12]

I did notice yesterday that my hen that dyed was very very skinny. All my other hens are a lot heavier than the other one was. I am feeling so hopeless about this whole thing. Please Help!

 

[enola]

I don't think your chickens are killing each other. If a chicken killls another chicken, you usually have a bloody mess. Either the comb, eyes and neck feathers are bloody, or the back and butt area are bloody.

What type of feed are you feeding? Do you feed free choice? Do you feed a lot of treats? Have you checked for mites and lice? Do you see any of them standing around all ruffled up and acting sleepy? Do you see loose stools like diarrhea?

I don't think the eggs would cause any problems if you ate them.

I don't think worms would be a problem yet, they are young.

 

[Princefarms12]

They are normally really active and move around all the time unless they are laying eggs. They were a little lazy when it was really hot a few days ago but I made sure that they had plenty of water and shade.

I don't give them many treats unless I have left over fruit and veggies on a rare occasion I will give the left over cooked rice. I feed them the Lay pellets that the feed store was recommending. While they were free ranging they would eat the dogs food if they found it. I tried to put it up, But i read some posts that said that the dog food shouldn't harm them so I didn't think that that was the reasoning for the dead chickens.

Also I am constantly checking for lice and mites. My kids and I love to go out and hold the chickens to try to keep them friendly. The last thing I want is a bunch of mean chickens. Especially since my kids are so little and they love to go out and collect the eggs.

 

[enola]

Can you check all of their keel bones to see if any of them a really thin?

 

[Princefarms12]

It looks like a couple are pretty thin. What does that mean? I make sure that they always have food.

 

[enola]

Maybe you should think about worming all of them. Safeguard liquid goat wormer is a good choice.