- Apr 17, 2010
- 14
- 0
- 22
Thank you again to all who helped me on here. I wanted to share what went wrong in my coop. I lost 10 chickens to what I now believe was Botulism. I began to come in to find 1 or two dead daily during about a seven day time frame. No signs of trauma, no sign of anything out of the ordinary at all. All five different breeds of same age affected. Hens and roosters. My perfect rooster included.
After two days I noticed more flies than normal and looked in a high up nesting box where an older hen from our last flock had apparently laid about 6 eggs over time that I did not notice. No one ever laid that high up before and I did not notice they were there. The chickens had gotten into them and there was remaining rotten remminents left behing. Probably the worst matter decay I have ever seen, black gook, maggots, ect.... I did not notice a smell since it is usually kinda smelly there anyway.
I cleaned the coop and mess after that and I did have two dead birds the day after I cleaned up the mess but I imagine they had already been up there the previous day.
After the big clean I have had no problems and every one is looking spunky and eating well. I have let them free range again and have no problems. We did cut the tall grass and bailed the fresh hay we had out. I am not an expert and I did not ever have the state come out, or bring a bird in. Luckily I have not had another loss to get to vet or state in time.
What a heartbreaking lesson. I know to collect eggs daily and always do. What I did not realize is my older hen who is probably trying to get away from all the "kids" resorted to the higest up nesting box (we built a wall of nesting boxes from floor to almost ceiling) and I did not see her eggs. I figured she had stopped laying as she is the last Mohican and pretty old. The flies should have been a big first clue.
The chickens were eating the decayed matter and maggotts who were eating the same. This is what I think took out 6 of my wonderful chickens in less than 7 days.
Terrible mistake on my part. I will always make sure to step up and check the high spots now, and if I see more than usual fly activity figure out why.
After two days I noticed more flies than normal and looked in a high up nesting box where an older hen from our last flock had apparently laid about 6 eggs over time that I did not notice. No one ever laid that high up before and I did not notice they were there. The chickens had gotten into them and there was remaining rotten remminents left behing. Probably the worst matter decay I have ever seen, black gook, maggots, ect.... I did not notice a smell since it is usually kinda smelly there anyway.
I cleaned the coop and mess after that and I did have two dead birds the day after I cleaned up the mess but I imagine they had already been up there the previous day.
After the big clean I have had no problems and every one is looking spunky and eating well. I have let them free range again and have no problems. We did cut the tall grass and bailed the fresh hay we had out. I am not an expert and I did not ever have the state come out, or bring a bird in. Luckily I have not had another loss to get to vet or state in time.
What a heartbreaking lesson. I know to collect eggs daily and always do. What I did not realize is my older hen who is probably trying to get away from all the "kids" resorted to the higest up nesting box (we built a wall of nesting boxes from floor to almost ceiling) and I did not see her eggs. I figured she had stopped laying as she is the last Mohican and pretty old. The flies should have been a big first clue.
The chickens were eating the decayed matter and maggotts who were eating the same. This is what I think took out 6 of my wonderful chickens in less than 7 days.
Terrible mistake on my part. I will always make sure to step up and check the high spots now, and if I see more than usual fly activity figure out why.
