- Mar 19, 2008
- 7
- 0
- 7
Hello. I have 22 adult chickens - 21 hens. I recently purchased 40 chicks from the same company I got my current laying flock from. Last week I lost a hen. She was the first adult I had lost. I have lost 8 chicks and now I have another adult hen that is showing the same symptoms as the chicks that have been dying off.
The symptoms in the early stage include what I will call a jelly chest. Under the feathers where the breast meat would be found is a sac of jelly that increasingly gets bigger. The bird will become lethargic, lose apetite and then eventually die. The adult hen that I isolated today is still eating and drinking, but she is not as energetic as the other hens in my small flock. She is a buff-orpington.
I don't know when she last layed an egg, but I should know within a day or two. She appears healthy other than the jelly sac which limits her mobility.
Does anyone have an idea of what I can do to fix what is becoming a real big problem?
The symptoms in the early stage include what I will call a jelly chest. Under the feathers where the breast meat would be found is a sac of jelly that increasingly gets bigger. The bird will become lethargic, lose apetite and then eventually die. The adult hen that I isolated today is still eating and drinking, but she is not as energetic as the other hens in my small flock. She is a buff-orpington.
I don't know when she last layed an egg, but I should know within a day or two. She appears healthy other than the jelly sac which limits her mobility.
Does anyone have an idea of what I can do to fix what is becoming a real big problem?