Chicken are dying Fast 1-2 a day ?

[Elite Silkies]

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I personally would give them heat lamp. The second picture of that hen looks like she has ice on her face. If your only feeding corn, then they are not getting the protein that they need to be healthy.

I would start them on Gamebird feed 28-30% protein. They need feed available 24/7.

If they have blood in their droppings then I would start them on Corid.

 

[HuffysFarm]

I hope this helps...

1) What type of bird , age and weight.The age range is 10 months to 4 years

2) What is the behavior, exactly. There no change in behavior until we go in and there is a dead one

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? There are no symptoms

4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No

5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. We are concern with the cow feed we are feeding the chicken and my husband even mentioned he didn't buy it where he regularly does.

6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.For the pass 8 days we feed them the cow feed but today we bought chicken feed.

7) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.Normal

8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Fresh water every 3 hours, treated for chicken lice and now changed food back to chicken feed.

9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?We plan to treat them ourself but if get worst see if I can talk to my vet. We don't have any vets they come to the home.

10) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

11) Describe the housing/bedding in use. We use straw but we removed all the straw yesterday due to someone thought it might be chicken lice. We already started cleaning the coop.


I did searches and searches.... Nothing is coming up as a possiblity. They all are breathing and active. When I went in the pecked at my ring as they always does. If it is boredom, what can I do? I know everyone is going by the picture but it not like it seems as I stated in another post. I just really want to help these chicken. My husband rised chicken most of his life and he never see chickens die without a warning or a very short warning. The ones that died has been both our roosters, one the rhode Island red which was 3 years old and one the 2year old buffs, and 3 of the 10 month old babies we hatched out(they are a mix breed.

 

[claud]

I think switching to all chicken feed is good and they do need it in front of them 24/7.

I wouldn't keep a light on them all the time but if that's what's keeping their coop at 55 I wouldn't abruptly turn it off.

Is their poo running? I think cocci could possibly be a problem although they are a bit old for that.

For boredom you can give them things to peck at. Hanging cabbage. Pumpkin cut in half.

 

[fldiver97]

I am not sure about the cowfeed....don't know what's in it..

I have no idea about cows , goats or horses. I would say probably not good to feed a lot of it if you want good nutrition for laying hens. Are you sure the feed is still good? If it sit around to it may have gone bad?? Sorry I am not very helpful, I hope others have better ideas. But I would probab;y stay away from feeding much if any of it. I don't know if you have checked the section about the 'poop, bloody poop' yet but that may give you an idea. Also, are they getting enough calcium if they are layers? One other thing popped in my head when I hear bleeding like that, and I may be way off here, but any chance there is ratpoison somewhere? I know that most of it is like coumadin, a bloodthinner and mixed with grain and stuff that rats will go for (and so will other creatures...). Hope you get some good ideas and hope the other chickens will fare better!!! Sorry about your loss!

ETA I think I may have misunderstood re the bleeding. Maybe the have been pecking? That could be from boredom or light 24/7.... Sorry.

 

[chicktwit]

They maybe hungry. It's real cold. They need a higher protein ratio of feed in winter. All day is better. They need to build up their systems. You can mix some cheap non flavored yogurt with rolled oats, leave in frig overnite, give to them next day. Once mine tried it they loved it. It's good for their digestion. Get old veggies, brocolli stems, cheap carrots, squash, tomatoes & cuizinart them with boiled eggs. You may want to get them on chicken vitamin water wazine is good mixed with tap water for a few days. Maybe some one with more experience will be able to give additional info. I hope your birds get to feeling better.




Edited to add Wazine is wormer (my bad) there is a vitamin mix for chickens. It will help them.

 

[HuffysFarm]

No we do not use any type of poison around our house or on our land. Besides the chicken, we have dogs, cats, birds and anything else that seem to get dropped off. We have nursed fawns, squirrels, puppies, dogs and cats.... I like animals but my husband is a true animal lover and so are my kids.

My husband is having me go ahead and feed them more. The light is not there source of heat, we have a small heater out of the way where they can't get too. I will get some cabbage tomorrow and hang up.

I will follow up tomorrow on here and see if I notice any changes. This will be after I get off work. This is a hard time for me to deal with this when my husband will be out of town all week. But we will do what we have to.


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[purpletree23]

Their water is disgusting and the feeder is empty.

Can you provide them with fresh clean water and food? They need a balanced chicken food available to them 24/7 especially in this weather. Not left over cow corn.

They all look skinny and sick.

In this weather don't hose out the coop. It will never dry and it make the conditions too humid. If you have to clean it take out all the bedding. Sweep everything out and sweep down the walls and ceiling and let it air out for about an hour and them add new fresh bedding.

 

[KKatknap]

I think the op said the water is well water...which is sometimes discolored by minerals in the ground.

They do, however, need food available all the time. I think if you were to get a good quality chicken feed - I would go with a grower feed for the first bag, to help build their protein back up, and after that, layer feed - and make sure they have it available all day, you would see a huge improvement. You might need a second feeder if they are emptying that one before the next feeding time.

I hope that helps!! I'm sorry you had to go through this. Good luck with the rest of your girls!

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

First off Welcome to BYC. Second, sorry you are being strapped with this situation with your hubby going out of town.
OK now for the situation at hand.
Looking closely at the pictures that you posted it looks like you have a few things going on.
First would be nutrition. You said you took them off the cow feed. That is a good thing. Corn alone does not have the nutrition that a chicken needs especially in winter. A good quality chicken feed, preferably a higher protein feed around 18 to 20 percent, would be beneficial. Keep feed in front of the chickens at all times.
Second is dehydration. A chicken needs clean water at all times. It appears that you water the chickens from a big pot. If they can't get to the water then they can't drink. I would be more tempted to give them the creek water verses the well water. A standard poultry waterer would give them more access than a big pot. A chicken can become dehydrated very quickly, in summer or winter. Lack of water creates incredible stress on a chicken.
Third is boredom. Chickens have to be kept occupied all the time. Sometimes this is difficult. Hanging heads of cabbage just above head height gives them something to do. You have snow on the ground so free ranging is tough. Also cabbage is good nutrition for them. You can also give them treats such as a bowl of spaghetti noodles. You might want to get a large tub of plain yogurt for them as this will help with their digestive system.
Fourth is pecking. If they have bloody butts but their poop is normal then this is usually a sign of pecking. Once a chicken tastes blood it is very difficult to break them of it. If your feed store has poultry supplies I would get a can of Blu-Kote and spray that on the bloody butts. It helps heal and also helps stop the others from pecking at them. If you can't get Blu-Kote then stop by the grocery store and pick up a couple bottles of Turmeric spice. It is a natural astringent that will help with the bleeding. Run your lights for about 14 hours a day in the coop. Pecking is also a sign of boredom.
Other suggestions would be to get them on a vitamin supplement. There is a vitamin and mineral supplement that goes in the water or you can get Poly-Vi-Sol without Iron at the store in the baby section but make sure it is without iron. I would start them on a antibiotic such as Corid for 5 to 7 days, 2 teaspoons per gallon of water or one of the Mycin drugs such as Terramycin or Aureomycin just to help with secondary infections.
When a chicken becomes weak from any of the above things it has a really hard time staying warm in the frigid temperatures and can succumb to the cold very easily. A healthy chicken can very easily withstand cold temperatures.
I believe you posted that you have cats. You can certainly give your chickens cat food, wet or dry, as a treat and to help boost their protein levels.
I hope this helps you. Any questions, please feel free to PM me.

 

[doublebow]

Cow feed is pretty similar to chicken feed except for the different mineral balance. It is usually forage products and grain products just like Layena pellets. So while it may not provide exactly what they need I wouldn't think it would kill them. Is it medicated? Hope you get it all worked out. This time of year, when it is cold and wet, it can be hard to keep the critters warm and clean and healthy. Hope things improve for you guys.