My husband had chickens in the past and never had any issues.
In February, we purchased baby chicks a few weeks old. Right before they got laying age, one secluded herself and died.
We ended up with one rooster and about a month ago, he suddenly went blind. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his eyes, no secretions, no change to his eyes at all. He had perfectly healthy looking eyes. We called the hatcher and he was totally stumped. The only thing he could think of was that sometimes a toxin can be in a roach or black beetle and if they eat it, it could cause blindness.
Then today, one of our girls was sitting off to herself. Later, upon picking her up, her chest was rattling. She acted perfectly fine yesterday. We put her in a cage with bedding in the basement and I went to Tractor Supply. The only thing they had for respiratory was VetRx. Got some, put it in a vaporizer, and a few warm drops down her throat as directions stated. Less than 2 hours later, she died. Now we are concerned the others will get sick. Their coop and run are kept clean and not dusty. Compared to other coops I've seen on line, my girls are living clean and in luxury.
We did purchase 5-6 week old pullets from the same hatcher last month and kept them in the same area, but in a very large pet cage (size that our German Shepherd can fit in). As they got bigger we were able to let them be together during the day in the run, but had them in the coop in a cage at night as the older ones picked on them while in the coop. We recently were able to have them all together without any separation or issues.
At our wits end and worried the other girls will get sick.
Since my husband never had issues before, are things like this normal or are we have unusually bad luck?
Thanks. Sorry for the long post, just trying to give as many details as possible.
In February, we purchased baby chicks a few weeks old. Right before they got laying age, one secluded herself and died.
We ended up with one rooster and about a month ago, he suddenly went blind. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his eyes, no secretions, no change to his eyes at all. He had perfectly healthy looking eyes. We called the hatcher and he was totally stumped. The only thing he could think of was that sometimes a toxin can be in a roach or black beetle and if they eat it, it could cause blindness.
Then today, one of our girls was sitting off to herself. Later, upon picking her up, her chest was rattling. She acted perfectly fine yesterday. We put her in a cage with bedding in the basement and I went to Tractor Supply. The only thing they had for respiratory was VetRx. Got some, put it in a vaporizer, and a few warm drops down her throat as directions stated. Less than 2 hours later, she died. Now we are concerned the others will get sick. Their coop and run are kept clean and not dusty. Compared to other coops I've seen on line, my girls are living clean and in luxury.
We did purchase 5-6 week old pullets from the same hatcher last month and kept them in the same area, but in a very large pet cage (size that our German Shepherd can fit in). As they got bigger we were able to let them be together during the day in the run, but had them in the coop in a cage at night as the older ones picked on them while in the coop. We recently were able to have them all together without any separation or issues.
At our wits end and worried the other girls will get sick.
Since my husband never had issues before, are things like this normal or are we have unusually bad luck?
Thanks. Sorry for the long post, just trying to give as many details as possible.
