This is so odd... I haven't run across this before and maybe one of you will recognize this.
Last month I got some guinea keets, 5 of them. Gave them to a broody, she was super happy about them so all was fine. Three days later, they died in the nest. I realized Broody never left the nest and they probably got dehydrated, guineas being kinda dumb (waterer was literally a foot away). Odd thing was though two of them had blood coming out of their beaks. Broody is also a first timer, so I thought perhaps she had squashed them. Chalked it up to coincidence.
I also had another hen who mysteriously had disappeared reappear with fifteen babies right at that same time. She was also a first timer, but did great and kept all fifteen in line.
But two days ago I started kinda noticing that she only had a few babies with her. They were well disguised with coloration so I thought I probably just didn't see the rest but then today I became concerned and watched for sure. She now has only 4 babies. They are three weeks old.
I've been smelling a skunk the last few days so I thought a predator probably got them, my chickens are free range and this particular hen won't go into the coop but chooses to nest outside.
Today I saw her and her remaining babies kind of hovering around something in the yard so went out and looked and it was one of her dead chicks. No injury but looked like it had blood inside it's beak but it had obviously been dead for a few days and so it was hard to tell.
On a whim, I went out to her usual nesting spot and yep - six more dead babies, like they had died in their sleep. No sign of injury or trauma, but had obviously been dead for a few days.
So now I'm scratching my head because that's quite a coincidence. In all my years of keeping chickens I've never had a hen squish chicks in a nest and so while I could believe it with the first one, I have a hard time believing that a hen with three week old babies would all the sudden squish most of her babies, 11 dead out of 15?
Could this be a virus that was brought in with the keets? I was googling but didn't find anything that fit the symptoms. They have all been active an healthy, foraging like mad. The whole thing seems so weird.
Last month I got some guinea keets, 5 of them. Gave them to a broody, she was super happy about them so all was fine. Three days later, they died in the nest. I realized Broody never left the nest and they probably got dehydrated, guineas being kinda dumb (waterer was literally a foot away). Odd thing was though two of them had blood coming out of their beaks. Broody is also a first timer, so I thought perhaps she had squashed them. Chalked it up to coincidence.
I also had another hen who mysteriously had disappeared reappear with fifteen babies right at that same time. She was also a first timer, but did great and kept all fifteen in line.
But two days ago I started kinda noticing that she only had a few babies with her. They were well disguised with coloration so I thought I probably just didn't see the rest but then today I became concerned and watched for sure. She now has only 4 babies. They are three weeks old.
I've been smelling a skunk the last few days so I thought a predator probably got them, my chickens are free range and this particular hen won't go into the coop but chooses to nest outside.
Today I saw her and her remaining babies kind of hovering around something in the yard so went out and looked and it was one of her dead chicks. No injury but looked like it had blood inside it's beak but it had obviously been dead for a few days and so it was hard to tell.
On a whim, I went out to her usual nesting spot and yep - six more dead babies, like they had died in their sleep. No sign of injury or trauma, but had obviously been dead for a few days.
So now I'm scratching my head because that's quite a coincidence. In all my years of keeping chickens I've never had a hen squish chicks in a nest and so while I could believe it with the first one, I have a hard time believing that a hen with three week old babies would all the sudden squish most of her babies, 11 dead out of 15?
Could this be a virus that was brought in with the keets? I was googling but didn't find anything that fit the symptoms. They have all been active an healthy, foraging like mad. The whole thing seems so weird.
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