what is kiling my flock ? lost another one please help

[goldenchic]

we had seven hens in july now have three, i originally had two partridge wyandottes gerty and daisy, they were 10 months old so we decided to add to our flock, we added a booted bantam rosy & a rir peggy after 3 days the booted bantam rosy died after studying symptoms she had cocci, so treated gerty daisy and peggy with cocci, but didnt want peggy to be on her own as i had quarantined from day one as advised but didn't want her to be lonely, so added 2 rir hetty & polly & ight sussex princess, everything seemed fine so after 6 weeks of being quarantined slowly introduced to gerty & daisy seemed ok so intergrated them, then about 3 weeks later peggy died, treat the rest with cocci, then a month later hetty died, treat with cocci as all chickens had shown signs of cocci, 2 weeks later polly showed signs so fed her directly with a syringe and after 4 days she pulled around,now a month later went out to find princess lethargic not eating or drinking she was just not herself, brought her in the house fed with syringe but didnt want to drink had to force feed her, made her some scrambled egg but wouldn't touch it her poos were runny and white, after 4 hours she couldn't stand, new it wasn't good, picked her up she died in my arms which was heartbreaking at least she wasnt on her own, had been wormed & flead, has acv in water poultry spice in food, just dont know why their dying months apart, iv'e never had no problems with gerty & daisy, have the younger ones brought a disease with them if so what is it ? spent months studying cant find an answer, i just think their ok then lose another one, please help if you can i feel so helpless & useless

 

[jerseygirl1]

I am so lost because there was no punctuation - but, did you treat all of them at the same time for cocci?

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Forgive me for editing, but I felt the need to because I can't really read it well without it being cohesive, and I think more folks will also read it if it's cleaned up- I really want to help you.

First off, how old are each of these groups you've brought in? Without knowing their age, I can't determine the sorts of pathogens or illnesses they may be more likely to be suffering from. Also, what are you feeding each of the groups? Sometimes changing from crumbles to pellets and the other way around can confuse them, and brand, type, etc. can also be an indicator of a potential issue. How are they housed, and what have you used to treat the coccidiosis?

I think we can help you if we get a little more information.

 

[goldenchic]

gerty & daisy ive had since 8 weeks old with no problems, in may they were 10 months old ,when we got rosy and peggy off a breeder who said they were eight weeks old, but looking back we think they may have only been six weeks they seemed really small, as i said rosy died and we dint want peggy to be lonely in quarantine on her own so we got, hetty , princess and polly, from a different breeder as dint want to go back to other breeder with rosie dying,


we think she had cocci from getting her as she was fluffed up, which we didn't recognise till after the fact, hetty, princees & polly were 8 weeks when we got them thats when we realised rosy & peggy cant have been 8 weeks but probably 6 weeks they were alot smaller,

whenever one has come down with cocci i have treated all of them with cocci just to be on the safe side,as i said i almost lost polly but gave coxoid and after a few days she came back around and has been fine since, then i lost princess out of the blue today, polly is 24 weeks now and princess was the same age, my other 2 are 15 months now, they all have the same layer pellets which i keep inside the house, their coop is cleaned every 2 days their run is cleaned once a week, i put acv in the water, poultry spice in their food DE in the dustbath, and dust them regularly with it ,also i put it in the coop sparingly, as was worried the younger ones may have had red mite, but dont know if am being paranoid,

looking at princess today their was nothing visible not fluffed up but her wings had dropped, crop ok, felt stomache seemed ok, just white droppings, so you can see my dilemma, they do free range alot in the garden let out most days so i wondered if it was something in the garden, but as dh said other 2 have been free rangin in the garden for 8 months before we got them,i am just so heartbroken i love all my hens,but losing princess was the biggest blow she seemed so healthy, and losing her in my arms watching her pass was not a nice experience the only comfort i can get from that was she wasn't on her own, sorry av took so long to reply am not quick at typing any thoughts would be helpful please thankyou for taking the time to respond,

 

[ChooksChick]

Ok- it seems that they were too old for Coccidiosis at this point, and since there were white runny droppings, I'm guessing Princess hadn't eaten in a long time. She may have had a blocked crop. Can you remember if she had a full, squishy or water-balloon feeling crop when you were trying to save her? Was there any sign she wasn't eating as usual prior to seeing her weak and listless?

I am no leaning toward you having any one cause for your birds having been lost one-by-one. I think the younger ones may have been weak and younger than you thought, like you said. Did you keep them warmer with a lamp until they were fully feathered out? Making sure they are warm enough is very important, even at a couple of months old (I'm not sure where you are or how warm it is at night) and while under quarantine they may need to be brought up a bit more gingerly than grown birds. Also, how were Gertie and Daisy about the new birds- did they accept them easily or were they asserting dominance (which would be normal)? Sometimes what can happen is that new birds will be far enough down on the pecking order that they are prevented from eating and drinking by the more dominant birds. I would put more feeders and waterers out for introductions and make certain the new birds are getting ample amounts.

Because you used Coxoid, I'm assuming you're in the UK- we have other brands of Amprolium in the US. This is the best way to manage the coccidiosis, but generally I would have assumed past 6 or 7 months the possibility of it being coccidiosis is very small. I think you may have a problem with them getting into something in your yard or perhaps some problem in the feed. Are they all getting good, fresh feed that isn't the least stale or moldy? Has it been prevented from getting wet? Are there any chemicals or poisonous plants they can get at?

At the age the latest girls were, I also wonder about laying habits- were they laying normally and regularly? Were the eggs thin-shelled or irregular?

It is a very strange and unfortunate experience, but it doesn't seem at all like I can pinpoint a cause. Do you have neighbors that object to your hens? I'm almost wondering if there might be a more insidious cause.

By the way- I didn't say it before, but I'm very sorry for your losses- it's never easy, and I do understand how much it hurts.

 

[goldenchic]

the older bird stopped laying about 6 weeks ago, but they are molting & been broody so i put it down to this, princess was the heaviest and used to watch them eating she was the bottom of the pecking order but always got her fair share ,food is kept indoors and is always dry,plants have been thrown away as we did wander could this be the cause that was months ago, our garden is concrete, they have lots of shavings in the coop to keep them warm, sorry i need to sign off for now, can i take this back up with you tomorrow thanks

 

[goldenchic]

Hi chookschic have you had any more thoughts about what could be killing my hens? the rest seem fine today but thats nothing to go by, i suppose only time will tell, am hoping princess will be my last loss, polly has ended up on her own with the 2 big girls anyway, which i tried to avoid in the first place, thats why i originally added to my flock,