Arizona Chickens

[KToddy]

All depends what the weeds are. Some are bad, and some are not. Usually chickens will avoid stuff that is bad by natural instinct.
I have things growing in my yard, that chickens do hide in, and scratch around in, but do not eat the bad greens. (Daylilies, Holly bushes, Juniper tree, with those red berries) and a few other plants. (all considered to be poisonous to chickens) In summer, I also container grow tomatoes, and chickens leave those green leaves alone.
What is happening to your chickens at this time?? It can be something just by coincidence happening now, with nothing to do with those weeds.

My issues: 2 weeks ago my wyandotte had bruising on her orange leg and was limping. It has not gotten better. One week ago a sarama just dropped dead, and my polish has had an eye infection- treated with teramycin 2x a day almost better and the others pecked a bald spot on her head & it swelled up- went in for a second round of different antibiotics & vitamin B shot…. she died yesterday. Now I am wondering if it is marek’s (sp?).
I keep poultry cell in their water, feed 16% organic feed & fermented feed, organic scratch, make them oatmeal & chili peppers w/cranberries a few times a week, have crushed (baked to kill bacteria) egg shells always available, fresh cabage tether ball 1-2x a week, sand bottom coop which I rake & sift droppings 6 days a week.
They are my babies and I spoil them. I am devastated right now.

 

[cavemanrich]

My issues: 2 weeks ago my wyandotte had bruising on her orange leg and was limping. It has not gotten better. One week ago a sarama just dropped dead, and my polish has had an eye infection- treated with teramycin 2x a day almost better and the others pecked a bald spot on her head & it swelled up- went in for a second round of different antibiotics & vitamin B shot…. she died yesterday. Now I am wondering if it is marek’s (sp?).
I keep poultry cell in their water, feed 16% organic feed & fermented feed, organic scratch, make them oatmeal & chili peppers w/cranberries a few times a week, have crushed (baked to kill bacteria) egg shells always available, fresh cabage tether ball 1-2x a week, sand bottom coop which I rake & sift droppings 6 days a week.
They are my babies and I spoil them. I am devastated right now.

Looks like you are doing everything right. Hard to tell where the problem lies.
Here are some of my thoughts. None point to weeds BTW.
Your Wyandotte with limping leg..... a possible injury by a biting predator? Maybe a venomous snake possibly.
Serama,,,, a snake bite possibility as well. I keep Seramas, and know they do not have long lives generally.
Polish with eye infection ,,, can happen from a bacteria exposure. Bacteria is everywhere, and I have no Idea where that may have came from. The pecking on top of head is possibly what ended that chickens life.
Here is my suggestions to try.
Give just fresh water with nothing added.
Feed the Organic feed, just dry, and not fermented. The fermentation may be a source of bacteria, GOOD,,,,,, or,,,,BAD
Skip the oatmeal, for your testing.
Skip the chili peppers for now. I know that chickens can handle peppers, but too much of a good thing may be bad. Different chili peppers may have different compounds that MAY not be great for chickens.
Skip the cranberries for now. The tartness in cranberries may not be ideal at this time for their diet.
Skip the fresh cabbage for a while. It is possibility, that the cabbage is sprayed in the fields with pesticide. Just a possibility.

So BOTTTOM LINE.
Feed just the feed.
Offer just fresh clean water.
You can offer them some bread from kitchen as a treat. Nothing likely to be bad with that. I do give my hens bread all the time. (in small amounts BTW)

See how the rest of your chickens are after about one week or longer on above suggested plan. Then introduce the other items one at a time.
Do check to see that they are safe from predators,,, including snakes. Even small baby snakes have nasty venom.

 

[BlueBaby]

I agree with @cavemanrich, and I was also told that baby snake bites can be more poisonous as they have not learned yet how much venom that they need to release.

 

[KToddy]

Looks like you are doing everything right. Hard to tell where the problem lies.
Here are some of my thoughts. None point to weeds BTW.
Your Wyandotte with limping leg..... a possible injury by a biting predator? Maybe a venomous snake possibly.
Serama,,,, a snake bite possibility as well. I keep Seramas, and know they do not have long lives generally.
Polish with eye infection ,,, can happen from a bacteria exposure. Bacteria is everywhere, and I have no Idea where that may have came from. The pecking on top of head is possibly what ended that chickens life.
Here is my suggestions to try.
Give just fresh water with nothing added.
Feed the Organic feed, just dry, and not fermented. The fermentation may be a source of bacteria, GOOD,,,,,, or,,,,BAD
Skip the oatmeal, for your testing.
Skip the chili peppers for now. I know that chickens can handle peppers, but too much of a good thing may be bad. Different chili peppers may have different compounds that MAY not be great for chickens.
Skip the cranberries for now. The tartness in cranberries may not be ideal at this time for their diet.
Skip the fresh cabbage for a while. It is possibility, that the cabbage is sprayed in the fields with pesticide. Just a possibility.

So BOTTTOM LINE.
Feed just the feed.
Offer just fresh clean water.
You can offer them some bread from kitchen as a treat. Nothing likely to be bad with that. I do give my hens bread all the time. (in small amounts BTW)

See how the rest of your chickens are after about one week or longer on above suggested plan. Then introduce the other items one at a time.
Do check to see that they are safe from predators,,, including snakes. Even small baby snakes have nasty venom.

Sounds like a good plan… Just finished an in depth article on Marek’s and it suggested cranberries and vitamin b/poultry cell since the hen with the paralysis in her leg has survived so far (i realized it has been 4 weeks) I can give her polyvisol or crushed B complex to help her. I am positive it wasn’t a snake- I have motion detection cameras in their coop… Sarama was fine on the roost the night before must’ve dropped off (perhaps a heart attack) and our snake season hasn’t started yet, up here in Cave Creek they are still in hibernation especially with how cold it has been. We have the entire coop lined with ¼” hardware cloth even the floor. Also, the Polish was weak, she just recovered from near death unknown illness… became droopy and we tube feed her for weeks thought corrid (treated for that and vitamin deficiency) and somehow she pulled through after a month of around the clock care… only to get a bulging eye.. then skull. We have been thru the wringer around here!

I will suspend everything else as you suggest! Thank you for taking the time to respond! Prayers appreciated.. not sure what I am going to do with these 3 week old unvaccinated chicks (currently on medicated feed)

 

[BlueBaby]

Well, tomorrow's the big lock down day on my incubator. I'm down to 6 of those 13 shipped fertile egg's left in it. I hope that this rain won't mess with the humidity in it much.

 

[Happy Novogens]

I can't imagine the new pullets/cockerel prefer to roost where they are. They'll naturally try to roost in an enclosed "safe" spot. Are you sure they aren't being shoed away from the favored roost when they try to roost with the others?

I missed this earlier. The others are most certainly trying to shoo them away. Nevertheless, they have managed most nights to get in the same area with the others. The night of the photo, they were not able to. Last night, the 2 new pullets managed to get in the main area but the cockerel ended up out in that same spot shown in the photo.

This was the reason for my question. Should I be intervening somehow? Do I let them sort it out themselves? I could have picked up the cockerel last night and placed him with the others, but that is what I'm not sure I should be doing.

 

[cavemanrich]

I could have picked up the cockerel last night and placed him with the others, but that is what I'm not sure I should be doing.

I personally see no problem with doing such. This way all chickens eventually learn to live in HARMONY together. There will be those chickens that will always like CLOSE company of certain others. Others will just be on same roost, but not CHUMMY CHUMMY
You can simply try to make the undesired roost inaccessible temporarily. In HOT weather, that spot may be the choice during Hot Nights.

 

[BlueBaby]

I missed this earlier. The others are most certainly trying to shoo them away. Nevertheless, they have managed most nights to get in the same area with the others. The night of the photo, they were not able to. Last night, the 2 new pullets managed to get in the main area but the cockerel ended up out in that same spot shown in the photo.

This was the reason for my question. Should I be intervening somehow? Do I let them sort it out themselves? I could have picked up the cockerel last night and placed him with the others, but that is what I'm not sure I should be doing.

I would just keep moving him over there with the other's. He will figure it out soon. You can also block that area that he keep's trying to roost in. That will stop him from doing that.

 

[Happy Novogens]

I personally see no problem with doing such. This way all chickens eventually learn to live in HARMONY together. There will be those chickens that will always like CLOSE company of certain others. Others will just be on same roost, but not CHUMMY CHUMMY
You can simply try to make the undesired roost inaccessible temporarily. In HOT weather, that spot may be the choice during Hot Nights.

I would just keep moving him over there with the other's. He will figure it out soon. You can also block that area that he keep's trying to roost in. That will stop him from doing that.

Just checked and all the chickens are roosting together! They did that on their own.

So glad because it is crazy windy out there right now.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

It's cold, rainy, and windy here today. I hope everyone is staying warm!