So sorry you had to go through all of these losses Maxx. Just saw this thread and it is really too bad you did not get more help from the state poultry lab. We have a great one here in GA, and I unfortunately had to call on their services when my girls started dying one by one. After the 4th one...
Well, when I had my group of 7 girls (5 have died) the pecking order was:
RIR on TOP--she is a tyrant
SLW
SLW
Then all three EE and my BO seemed to share the bottom equally
My RIR and BO are the only 2 left, and she still is the BOSS.
I have 2 pullets about 9 months old that survived the Mareks that killed my other 5 girls. I have decided to get a few more chicks (vaccinated), but I am really stressing about how I am going to integrate them when the time comes. They will obviously be in brooder for the first 8 weeks, but...
Although I'm not in a cold climate, I am trying to decide to get some chicks now, or wait until spring. I already have a coop with 2 girls in it, and I have done the brooder thing before. You just need to keep them warm for 6-8 weeks until they are completely feathered. One thought in support of...
Got the call from the lab this am. The findings were disseminated Mareks. I feel relieved to finally have an answer. The vet told me to vaccinate any birds I get from now on. The 2 I have left seem healthy, and it could stay that way, or they could get sick at any point in the future. Thanks to...
I REALLY think you have all pullets. I had 4 pullets and sometimes when I cracked an egg open I could swear it looked like the picture of the fertilized egg, but I know it wasn't b/c I would get 4 eggs in a day, with 4 different shades of color, from each of the 4 birds i had. No other chickens...
Got a call form the avian veterinarian at the state lab this afternoon. When they opened Nelly up they found a large tumor on her ovary (reason she stopped laying a week ago) and small tumors in her lungs. She also had ascites in her abdomen. Vet said she would have never recovered and...
Brought her to the poultry lab today. Seemed like the right thing to do. She was not getting any better. I pretty much knew how it would end for her. I NEED to find out what this is, it is driving me batty. hope I can hang on to the two I have left. I will update when I hear back from the lab.
Yikes, sorry to hear that Tulie. Thanks for the info. Yes this was my first group of birds on virgin ground, so I don't know what is up. In fact, I have contacted the state's poultry lab and I have decided to bring Nelly in and have her sacrificed and do a post mortem to try and find out what...
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Hey Wondernurse,
I, apoligize in advance if I'm getting this thread confused with another one, no time to re-read right now. Anyhow, it seems like you've mentioned water problems and that you use straw. If that's right do you think you might have mold somwhere?
I think my coop floor...
She has made it through another day, but she does not appear any better. She slept inside last night, but temps won't be too bad tonight, so I am planning to leave her out. I am going to have a necropsy done if she doesn't make it. I just have to figure out what t his is. Could it be Marek's...
I am going to try and do some more work in the coop before the next rain expected Friday. Nelly stayed in last night. She did well, and her poop this am does not look terrible. Could not get the antibiotics in her though. Need a second person. Vet gave her Orbax. She would not eat in the house...
Thank you honeydoll--Oh my gosh, now I see all the posts about the hydrated lime. I called the TSC today and gave them a piece of my mind. I got in the coop last night after the girls went to roost and raked up the straw, then tilled all the lime into the soil underneath, then raked the straw...
Don't beat yourself up about it. You did quarantine--that is super-smart. The lice and mites can be treated. Now the other stuff is a different matter, but that is what quarantine is for. Either way, you are going to give a better life to 4 chickens that would have spent the rest of their days...
It has been a busy day. I have made some changes, thanks to all of your great advice. I drove an hour each way to a TSC that was open to start Nelly on Sulmet. I shoveled up much of the damp dirt/mulch in my coop sprinkled some hydrated lime (TSC man suggested) and covered with some wheat straw...
Jaybird- yes she is still eating, but not as enthusiastically as before. OK, called around and can get Sulmet at a TSC store, or wait to tomorrow am and take her and her stool to an avian vet. What to do--need to decide soon.
No worries Purple Chicken. I am just trying to understand what may be killing my birds. Should I treat for cocci or wait until tomorrow to take the fecal?? How much time does this bird have?
OK, just came in from am chicken chores. I think that bird I was talking about may very well have cocci. I took a pic of the droppings from underneath her and it was runny, and more of a brown/clay color. Pic looks too blurry to post. Definitely looked different then the 2 others. Should I...
Thanks everyone for the input. I plan on taking a fecal from the one that is a little off to a vet tomorrow. Yesterday her droppings were not too bad, a little green. The other birds that died just looked watery, no blood, no frothiness. Would cocci be bothering a flock this old? They are 9...