Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

I don't have enough battery to check who has posted earlier today.. So if I missed any new people.. WELCOME..

The girls we got from marysong,, are absoulutly gorgeous... I can't wait to post photos.. Thank you Mary..

 

[WestSideChicken]

I lost my first chicken today. I promised myself I wouldn't get attached. But each of the kids picked out a chicken and I chose one too and raised it from a little puff ball. My Buff Orpington, Butterball died today. We can't figure out what happened. It wasn't too hot today. They had fresh food and water as always and she was fine last night when I locked them up. I went out this evening to give them some dinner leftovers and she was laying inside the coop dead. She was only about 16 weeks old and the friendliest of our 6. Do chickens normally drop dead for no apparent reason?
Her crop wasn't enlarged and she had been eating and acting normal? We wonder if something got into the run, but there was no blood or puncture marks. just several feathers  around the run.


Thank you for he ideas on what might have happened. I am still clueless. If I were more experienced I would have done a necropsy on it. The idea of a scorpion is possible. I haven't seen any at home, but we get them at my school often. It wasn't too hot, it was only in the 90's that day and rainy. I moved the coop and run to fresh ground and cleaned everything. I am now trying to convince my husband to let me replace it with a few rare or unique chicks, and he rolls his eyes but seems willing. I did have to retrim some wings tonight after I went out and found one of them on top of the coop looking at me eye level. I also still have to do something for my roo Ameracauna who missed the party.

 

[AZKat]

The nice thing about staining concrete is that not only is it currently fashionable, its something that fits the period if you have a mid-century house. It was pretty common for houses in the Phoenix-metro to be built with sealed concrete floors, to keep costs down, with the idea that people would eventually finish them according to their taste and pocket book. A lot of people just left them as is, several people in the neighborhood I grew up in had concrete floors. And it isn't just a low end option, the beautiful home that Sandra Day O'Connor built in the early '60s has brick red concrete floors. By total coincidence, that is the color I picked for my living room, when I saw that I felt very smug

 

[pdx2phx]

I lost my first chicken today. I promised myself I wouldn't get attached. But each of the kids picked out a chicken and I chose one too and raised it from a little puff ball. My Buff Orpington, Butterball died today. We can't figure out what happened. It wasn't too hot today. They had fresh food and water as always and she was fine last night when I locked them up. I went out this evening to give them some dinner leftovers and she was laying inside the coop dead. She was only about 16 weeks old and the friendliest of our 6. Do chickens normally drop dead for no apparent reason? Her crop wasn't enlarged and she had been eating and acting normal? We wonder if something got into the run, but there was no blood or puncture marks. just several feathers around the run.

Sorry to hear this...

Sometimes it just happens, but most of our early 'mystery deaths' turned out to be due to scorpion stings. If you see one of your chickens get lethargic suddenly (like in the space of 20 minutes to an hour), have trouble walking and acting paralyzed or partially paralyzed, that's probably what's going on. They will start flopping over from leg spazms, and have severe breathing problems.

You can give them a good fighting chance if you get them liquid children's benadryl early on, bring them inside overnight in a safe space. Search this thread for scorpion stings or children's benadryl for more info...more info on the web about dosage per weight of your chicken.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I lost my first chicken today. I promised myself I wouldn't get attached. But each of the kids picked out a chicken and I chose one too and raised it from a little puff ball. My Buff Orpington, Butterball died today. We can't figure out what happened. It wasn't too hot today. They had fresh food and water as always and she was fine last night when I locked them up. I went out this evening to give them some dinner leftovers and she was laying inside the coop dead. She was only about 16 weeks old and the friendliest of our 6. Do chickens normally drop dead for no apparent reason? Her crop wasn't enlarged and she had been eating and acting normal? We wonder if something got into the run, but there was no blood or puncture marks. just several feathers  around the run.

You need to do a Neocropsy on them, there is always a reason. There are plenty of anatomy pictures on the web, on YouTub there are videos of chicken Neocropsy. I rely on common sense, and knowing what a healthy heart and liver look like, I am building knowlage of other intestines from Processing chickens, starting with last weeks party.

From input from other members of BYC, it appears that Conjunctive heart failure, the heart is in a water sack, in larged jondus liver is another. Heavy duel purpose seem most likely, but I do not know for sure. The meaties are diffenitly prone to alments do to their fast grouth.

Remember the hearts and livers you get in the store today are from genetically sick birds, the hearts and livers are inlarged and fatty.

The last Neocropsy I did was not in depth, I found her heart did have a small water sack, putting stress on the heart. Not sure yet if it was too fatty, I have more to learn. Her liver was slightly yellow, large but not inlarged. The lower intestines did not look quit right, she dad been suffering from pasty butt, May have been infected. She had not been laying, and she had recently started to develop eggs, the largest the size of a marble. Pecker was a very heavy girl, I am guessing, I have been giving them to much rich or fat producing food treats, indicated by fat deposits on heat and other locations, water sack around heart stressing her, combined with the treatment for Pasty Butt too late, as she started to improve she started to developer eggs. Just to much for her.

I had started soaking her rump in warn/hot water, putting Bag Balm on the area, pluse adding Briggs Apple Cider vinegar with Mother to their water and extra to their fermented feed before giving it to them, I have been giving plain yogurt as well. She is the only one that had the problem, but they all benifeted from the addition to their diet.

I theorize I am killing them with love, to may Special high in fat producing treats, fresh corn being one of them. Corn not good in the summer...... Really not good. I was giving what I thought only a little, that is impossible to do. She was among the high ranking girls, she eat more them the others, some, I am sure were lucky to get one beak full of any thing.

 

[maryhysong]

I had started soaking her rump in warn/hot water, putting Bag Balm on the area, pluse adding Briggs Apple Cider vinegar with Mother to their water and extra to their fermented feed before giving it to them, I have been giving plain yogurt as well. She is the only one that had the problem, but they all benifeted from the addition to their diet.

Hi LKD! Lovely to get to meet you in person last night! I am thinking of something, adult chickens do not normally get pasty butt. That is something mostly seen in young chicks that have been stressed, like getting too cold, having a long rough hatch or going too long without food or water.

If you have an adult hen with a pasty butt and especially if there is an odor I would suspect a yeast infection AKA gleet. Some have used over the counter products for feminine yeast infections and some have used NuStock to cure the gleet. Some cases clear up easily and some are more entrenched and take a longer period of treatment to get cleared up. Just a thought.

 

[maryhysong]

I don't have enough battery to check who has posted earlier today.. So if I missed any new people.. WELCOME..

The girls we got from marysong,, are absoulutly gorgeous... I can't wait to post photos.. Thank you Mary..

Thank you, glad you are enjoying them! And thank you for your warm hospitality, tea & dinner! Had a lovely visit and hope to make it by again sometime!

 

[Demosthine]

I lost my first chicken today. I promised myself I wouldn't get attached. But each of the kids picked out a chicken and I chose one too and raised it from a little puff ball. My Buff Orpington, Butterball died today. We can't figure out what happened. It wasn't too hot today. They had fresh food and water as always and she was fine last night when I locked them up. I went out this evening to give them some dinner leftovers and she was laying inside the coop dead. She was only about 16 weeks old and the friendliest of our 6. Do chickens normally drop dead for no apparent reason? Her crop wasn't enlarged and she had been eating and acting normal? We wonder if something got into the run, but there was no blood or puncture marks. just several feathers around the run.

I second the thoughts on a scorpion sting. Despite our hard freeze this year, they seem to be significantly more abundant. That is the same situation we had with our only unexplained loss about a year ago. She was in the coop and was fine at night, but she was completely lethargic and then dead less than twelve hours later. When I did the necropsy, I couldn't find any signs of disease or illness, either. That is always a good step to take with an unexplainable loss. Even if it turns out everything looks great inside her, you will get a better idea of what you're looking at for next time. I'm afraid it's a bit too late to do now, since nearly twelve hours have passed, but it's something to keep in mine for next time.

My only other losses were heat-related. After a story, I forgot to put the shade cover back over the dog kennel turned chicken tractor for my broilers. That was entirely my fault and I regret it. The final one was an Ameraucana, but all four of my Ameraucana's suffered more through the heat than the rest of my clan. I fully expected to loose at least one of those. As much as I'd love to have colored eggs, it just may not be possible with my very hands-off natural approach.


Oh, and it's been SPRINKLING all morning up here. So far, it's just enough to get the ground wet and a couple of small puddles, but it's a wonderful change and my entire clan is out there wandering around foraging. I hope it stays around all day.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If you want something really awe-inspiring, forget the stained concrete! You've gotta go with a penny floor...

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But who can afford it? Reminds me of the story about the chessboard and grains of rice...

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I have sold all the Marans I wanted to. I am left with Dakota, a Blue, Basil, a Black and the Lemon, of-course Sylvia. I only hope that a couple of them are pullets. We will see. Everyone knows the odds, and what happens..... 3 chicks and not 1 pullet.....that has never happened to any of us...... Right?

I thinned my garden, put the thinned plants in a soup. I'm looking so forward to it.