2 Speckled Sussex hens died suddenly this week

[TOP KNOT]

Hello, 6 of my hens are/were speckled sussex. Three of them have never developed a red comb, wattles, or ear lobes. Early this week the 1st one died. Today I found a second one dead. These girls acted healthy. They had a good body weight and appetite. They showed no signs of sickness, they ran around with the rest of the flock scratching around for snacks. I still have one more pale hen. She also acts fine, She has a great body weight. All of my chickens are 24 weeks old. Does anyone have any idea whats going on? They have always been pale.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you looked them over closely, especially around the vent for lice or mites? Mites can hide in the coop wood until nighttime, so you may need to check after dark. Check their crops first thing in the morning when they should be flat--if full they may have impacted crop. Worming might also help with Valbazen cattle wormer or Safegard liquid goat wormer 1/2 ml to each bird--repeat in 1 week. Since this happened so closely, I might suspect they have coccidiosis. Normally hens develop immunity to cocci in their home areas by 10-12 weeks, but if they came from somewhere else or you have added other birds from somewhere else recently, they can get a strain they are not immune to. I might treat them with Corid liquid 2 tsp. per gallon for 5 days.

 

[TOP KNOT]

I got all of my birds as shipped chicks from murray mcmurray. I keep a closed flock. Free range 3 hrs a day after work and all weekend. I feed nutrena nature wise layer pellets and alfalfa hay leaves in their run. These three hens have never developed a red comb, their heads are pale and almost have white ear lobes. They should be red. I have 2 speckled sussex roosters and 22 hens of different breeds. All are very healthy and have great color. Only about 3-4 weeks ago I processed 15 roosters of the same breed and age. Healthy looking organs no signs of worms or disease. This stumps me, as it is just three of the speckled sussex hens. The other 3 look fine, red combs and wattles. Here is a pic of a few of my girls and the pale hen

Her body is in such fine condition clean preened feathers good weight. Could it be the over breeding of them? As she never was red.

This girl is even a bit of a bully. If I had a worm problem it would probably be through the whole flock. Ha! She is under my window right now destroying my flower bed, she looked up at me like what??