Hi everyone,
We are new to keeping chickens, we have 6 year old battery hens and two fancy bantams. My husband built our hen shed and run from scratch with their inside house being at a high level to make it easier for me to clean out without having to bend.
The whole structure has worked brilliantly and our egg production over the summer has been brilliant. keeping us and family supplied with eggs.
However a month ago we had to have one of the battery hens killed as she had her intestines protruding from her rear this was very upsetting as we have named the chickens and we treat them as pets even though everyone told us not to, it was heartbreaking but we knew we would have to lose them sometime, the not so joyous thing about keeping animals.
Then the following week we went into the shed in the morning to let the ladies out and found one hen dead in a nest box. We looked all over her and could find nothing wrong, our vet suggested she had probably had a stroke as they were suscepitble to this. yet more tears and another grave.
Now on Saturday (2 weeks later) one of our ladies didn't venture out of the shed when I opened it, I looked in their room and found her stood near the door looking out but not moving. I picked her up and took her outside to sit with her and see if I could find anything wrong. Another long term chicken owner came and checked her for full crop and eggs, lice and red mite but could find nothing at all. She stood very still, the only thing that moved were her eyes, if we tried to move her she was very wobbly. To look at her she looked fine but she was not right, extremely lethargic, we couldn't get her to drink anything or eat, she just stood. We put her in a nest box in the dark to give her respite from the other hens but later that day she died exactly where I had laid her.
We are so worried now as we have no idea why these two hens have died. We checked all the normal things, our hen house is scrupulously clean, I am a bit over the top compared to others on our allotment site, I clean them out twice a week thoroughly and spray and disinfect for red mite. Their bedding is all treated for dust and their food is kept in bins away from any rodents. their outside play area is dug over on a weekly basis so that it doesn't get compacted and it gives them something to scratch at. What could be going wrong? I have checked all their poo for worms but nothing shows up. We got them in July and they had been wormed the previous week so I haven't done them since. the other poultry keepers think she may have eaten something, but what!!! we supply all her food and it is kept very clean. The shed and run for our ladies is totally fox proof as we have one living behind our plot about 6' away. Obviously we cannot make it rodent proof as they can get where water can't but they cannot get into the hen's sleeping quarters and we put all food away each evening.
Does anyone have any ideas, I know this is a long shot and I have tried all the usual sites for information but each disease seems to have numerous symptoms and our lady only had one symptom and that was lethargy.
Any ideas will be welcomed.
Karen
We are new to keeping chickens, we have 6 year old battery hens and two fancy bantams. My husband built our hen shed and run from scratch with their inside house being at a high level to make it easier for me to clean out without having to bend.
The whole structure has worked brilliantly and our egg production over the summer has been brilliant. keeping us and family supplied with eggs.
However a month ago we had to have one of the battery hens killed as she had her intestines protruding from her rear this was very upsetting as we have named the chickens and we treat them as pets even though everyone told us not to, it was heartbreaking but we knew we would have to lose them sometime, the not so joyous thing about keeping animals.
Then the following week we went into the shed in the morning to let the ladies out and found one hen dead in a nest box. We looked all over her and could find nothing wrong, our vet suggested she had probably had a stroke as they were suscepitble to this. yet more tears and another grave.
Now on Saturday (2 weeks later) one of our ladies didn't venture out of the shed when I opened it, I looked in their room and found her stood near the door looking out but not moving. I picked her up and took her outside to sit with her and see if I could find anything wrong. Another long term chicken owner came and checked her for full crop and eggs, lice and red mite but could find nothing at all. She stood very still, the only thing that moved were her eyes, if we tried to move her she was very wobbly. To look at her she looked fine but she was not right, extremely lethargic, we couldn't get her to drink anything or eat, she just stood. We put her in a nest box in the dark to give her respite from the other hens but later that day she died exactly where I had laid her.
We are so worried now as we have no idea why these two hens have died. We checked all the normal things, our hen house is scrupulously clean, I am a bit over the top compared to others on our allotment site, I clean them out twice a week thoroughly and spray and disinfect for red mite. Their bedding is all treated for dust and their food is kept in bins away from any rodents. their outside play area is dug over on a weekly basis so that it doesn't get compacted and it gives them something to scratch at. What could be going wrong? I have checked all their poo for worms but nothing shows up. We got them in July and they had been wormed the previous week so I haven't done them since. the other poultry keepers think she may have eaten something, but what!!! we supply all her food and it is kept very clean. The shed and run for our ladies is totally fox proof as we have one living behind our plot about 6' away. Obviously we cannot make it rodent proof as they can get where water can't but they cannot get into the hen's sleeping quarters and we put all food away each evening.
Does anyone have any ideas, I know this is a long shot and I have tried all the usual sites for information but each disease seems to have numerous symptoms and our lady only had one symptom and that was lethargy.
Any ideas will be welcomed.
Karen