I have a flock of 10 laying hens that were reduced to 9 when I found one dead about 2 1/2 months ago. No marks, no injuries, she'd been fine the day before, just lying on her side dead.
Since then, all has been well. No problems with the other 9. I have a mixed flock with black sex links, buff orpingtons, white leghorns, and I just added four austrolops that are almost 13 wks old (raised from one day old and introduced to the flock at 6 weeks), bringing my total to 13. All the older ones turned a year last month.
I keep them all in a large enclosure--about 25' x 40', with a chicken house with a four-rung roosting ladder. Attached is a lean-to that is now totally enclosed, that contains another roosting ladder and nesting boxes. Also, when we mow the grass, we toss the clippings in (there hasn't been fertilizer or anything applied to the grass for 2-3 months and we just started doing this two mowings ago), and I rake the ground in about 1/3 of the pen at a time, at least 1-2 days a week and clean up the ground and remove the feces, grass, straw, etc. I also clean the coop and lean-to twice a week.
Now to the problem. About 10 days ago production dropped, but I mostly noticed a slackening in the white leghorn eggs. They are very consistent, rarely missing a day where we get three for three. The other girls are more hit and miss, but we generally get 7-8 eggs a day, out of 9 mature layers. We started getting 2 white eggs every day for 5 days, with only one of those five where we got 3 white eggs. By the fifth day one of the leghorns was droppy, keeping to herself, still drinking but staying in the lean-to and not socializing or coming out to scratch or peck. After two days of that, I researched here on the forum and decided she needed Corid for possible cocci....and that I should treat the other hens at the same time to be safe.
I put them all on it, according to directions, at the rate of 1/2 tsp per gallon of water (for 20%). This is day four. The affected hen is getting more chipper, coming outside more, not hiding all day. Not totally back to normal, but getting better.
However, the past three days (after having three days of 7 eggs each) we had 3 eggs, then one, then today, one that had a fragile shell and isn't usable.
I'm totally mystified. I've read that cocci can interfere with laying, but none of the others showed symptoms. I hope I've given enough info to start. Thank you for any help you can give me.
Oh...and NO signs of feather loss like they're starting to molt. And they haven't molted yet since I got them at 1 day old. I'm assuming maybe this fall or late summer?
Since then, all has been well. No problems with the other 9. I have a mixed flock with black sex links, buff orpingtons, white leghorns, and I just added four austrolops that are almost 13 wks old (raised from one day old and introduced to the flock at 6 weeks), bringing my total to 13. All the older ones turned a year last month.
I keep them all in a large enclosure--about 25' x 40', with a chicken house with a four-rung roosting ladder. Attached is a lean-to that is now totally enclosed, that contains another roosting ladder and nesting boxes. Also, when we mow the grass, we toss the clippings in (there hasn't been fertilizer or anything applied to the grass for 2-3 months and we just started doing this two mowings ago), and I rake the ground in about 1/3 of the pen at a time, at least 1-2 days a week and clean up the ground and remove the feces, grass, straw, etc. I also clean the coop and lean-to twice a week.
Now to the problem. About 10 days ago production dropped, but I mostly noticed a slackening in the white leghorn eggs. They are very consistent, rarely missing a day where we get three for three. The other girls are more hit and miss, but we generally get 7-8 eggs a day, out of 9 mature layers. We started getting 2 white eggs every day for 5 days, with only one of those five where we got 3 white eggs. By the fifth day one of the leghorns was droppy, keeping to herself, still drinking but staying in the lean-to and not socializing or coming out to scratch or peck. After two days of that, I researched here on the forum and decided she needed Corid for possible cocci....and that I should treat the other hens at the same time to be safe.
I put them all on it, according to directions, at the rate of 1/2 tsp per gallon of water (for 20%). This is day four. The affected hen is getting more chipper, coming outside more, not hiding all day. Not totally back to normal, but getting better.
However, the past three days (after having three days of 7 eggs each) we had 3 eggs, then one, then today, one that had a fragile shell and isn't usable.
I'm totally mystified. I've read that cocci can interfere with laying, but none of the others showed symptoms. I hope I've given enough info to start. Thank you for any help you can give me.
Oh...and NO signs of feather loss like they're starting to molt. And they haven't molted yet since I got them at 1 day old. I'm assuming maybe this fall or late summer?
