1 dead chicken and another not looking so good.

[Grace Q]

I'll try to make this as short as possible....I have had 16 egg layers (golden sex links) for over a year now and a month ago we got 10 Cornish cross meat chicks. Our egg layers are free range and our meat chickens are in a chicken tractor that we move around on our lawn. I have had NO problems at all until 2 days ago. One of my hens was found in the lawn looking and acting very sleepy and lethargic. I checked her over and saw nothing unusual. We put her in a kennel by herself with food and water and within 2 hours she was dead. She never did really "wake up" just kind of stumbled and flopped around?? After she died it looked like maybe she had prolapsed a little and I figured she must have been egg bound?? Now today there is another hen on the lawn looking lethargic?? The one thing I was wondering was, when we move the meat chicken pen the hens come over and clean up the spilled grain(flock raiser) and it looks like they also clean up some of the poop! Could eating the meat chickens poop make them sick?? The meat chickens show no sign of illness. The grain they spill is minimal they can't be getting more than a handful. I have checked them for lice and mites but see nothing and I have checked the sick one over and see nothing wrong?? I would appreciate any feed back.....thanks!

 

[ten chicks]

I'll try to make this as short as possible....I have had 16 egg layers (golden sex links) for over a year now and a month ago we got 10 Cornish cross meat chicks. Our egg layers are free range and our meat chickens are in a chicken tractor that we move around on our lawn. I have had NO problems at all until 2 days ago. One of my hens was found in the lawn looking and acting very sleepy and lethargic. I checked her over and saw nothing unusual. We put her in a kennel by herself with food and water and within 2 hours she was dead. She never did really "wake up" just kind of stumbled and flopped around?? After she died it looked like maybe she had prolapsed a little and I figured she must have been egg bound?? Now today there is another hen on the lawn looking lethargic?? The one thing I was wondering was, when we move the meat chicken pen the hens come over and clean up the spilled grain(flock raiser) and it looks like they also clean up some of the poop! Could eating the meat chickens poop make them sick?? The meat chickens show no sign of illness. The grain they spill is minimal they can't be getting more than a handful. I have checked them for lice and mites but see nothing and I have checked the sick one over and see nothing wrong?? I would appreciate any feed back.....thanks!

Could be Coccidiosis. Cocci is a parasitic infection of the intestinal tract,spread by droppings which get into feed/water via droppings. There are 9 strains of cocci,so it is possible that one group of birds have an immunity to a specific strain of cocci,and it has spread to the other chickens that have not built up immunity to this strain. Some symptoms of cocci are
runny/watery poop(may or may not contain blood,depends on which of the 9 strains it is)fluffed feathers,lethargic,not eating/drinking properly,weight loss,general look of unwell. If symptoms match,purchase Corid(amprolium)dose for Corid 9.6% liquid is 2 tsp per gallon of water,dose for Corid 20% powder is 3/4 of tsp per gallon of water. Treat ALL chickens for 5 days,do not give vitamins during treatment(interferes with medication)give vitamins after treatment is complete.

 

[Grace Q]

Thanks for the feed back! I think you are probably right...I called our local feed store and they are out of the liquid form of Corid so I will try the next town over. The big bummer is my girls were going to take 2 meat chickens and 2 laying hens to the fair in a week and a half and now I'm thinking that won't be able to happen... Thanks again for the reply!!