- Dec 17, 2012
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Hi folks,
I live and work on a ranch near Half Moon Bay, CA. We keep a flock of around 50 chickens, 3 roosters. Diverse breeds and ages, two ameracauna roosters (one red one white), one buckeye rooster, parents of two generations. Most of our hens are 3+ years old, and are mostly ameracauna or buckeye.
I'm new to the ranch, moved here in early Feb. We aided in hatching a new group in late Feb, and they are coming along nicely. Up until this weekend, that is. Starting last Friday, we began finding dead buckeye pullets in the pen. Every morning another one, except on Monday morning.
The little things appear green/blue in the abdomen, and very bloated. Pressing on their stomachs cause a foul odor and expulsion from behind- they appear constipated. None of the living are exhibiting any strange symptoms, all chirp, eat, and run about normally.
They have regular access to running or stagnant water basins, switched from chick feed to adult size pellet food one month ago (18% protein, organic), and are protected from predators. In the evenings, they are confined to an indoor/outdoor pen (flock of 35 in 10x15 outdoor and 5x8 indoor space), during the day they are allowed out into a gated apple orchard to graze. We cleaned their pen thoroughly on Friday after the first death.
My co-workers are not sure what's happening, and if we find another dead we're sending it in for biopsy right away. I've come by plenty of life-saving advise here, and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this issue. Regardless of if we lose more, I'd like to try and identify what happened to these pullets. Our groundskeeper wondered if the angel trumpet tree is toxic to them, as they are eating the leaves.
Open to any ideas and suggestions. Can disclose more information, or pics of any further deaths or living pullets.
I live and work on a ranch near Half Moon Bay, CA. We keep a flock of around 50 chickens, 3 roosters. Diverse breeds and ages, two ameracauna roosters (one red one white), one buckeye rooster, parents of two generations. Most of our hens are 3+ years old, and are mostly ameracauna or buckeye.
I'm new to the ranch, moved here in early Feb. We aided in hatching a new group in late Feb, and they are coming along nicely. Up until this weekend, that is. Starting last Friday, we began finding dead buckeye pullets in the pen. Every morning another one, except on Monday morning.
The little things appear green/blue in the abdomen, and very bloated. Pressing on their stomachs cause a foul odor and expulsion from behind- they appear constipated. None of the living are exhibiting any strange symptoms, all chirp, eat, and run about normally.
They have regular access to running or stagnant water basins, switched from chick feed to adult size pellet food one month ago (18% protein, organic), and are protected from predators. In the evenings, they are confined to an indoor/outdoor pen (flock of 35 in 10x15 outdoor and 5x8 indoor space), during the day they are allowed out into a gated apple orchard to graze. We cleaned their pen thoroughly on Friday after the first death.
My co-workers are not sure what's happening, and if we find another dead we're sending it in for biopsy right away. I've come by plenty of life-saving advise here, and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this issue. Regardless of if we lose more, I'd like to try and identify what happened to these pullets. Our groundskeeper wondered if the angel trumpet tree is toxic to them, as they are eating the leaves.
Open to any ideas and suggestions. Can disclose more information, or pics of any further deaths or living pullets.
