Hello,
New comer to BYC. I have read several posting over time from BYC, but up to now have not participated. But I have a problem and hoping that I can get some feedback from experienced chicken folk. A couple of weeks ago while I was out of town, my husband noticed one of my hens on the nest and the next evening he noticed she was still there so he looked a little closer and she was dead. Again this week I found another hen who also was dead in the nest. I found another hen laying under the roost dead. Then again in my pullet house I have found two pullets dead. I checked for any injuries, bites, etc but found nothing. My husband (a former chicken inspector) did post mortem on the latest and she looked completely healthy, organs looking normal, no worms, etc. I found no lice, fleas, etc. None of these birds were exhibiting any signs of illness. After doing some internet checking I thought possibly I may have overlooked a red mite infestation. But I spent quite a bit of time with the hens and in the pullet house and found no signs on the roost or the nest of red mites. I have noticed that several of my hens appear to be going through a molt. That said... the hens and pullets found dead did not show any noticable feather loss. Again, there were no bites or injury, no blood found. Very frustrated!
I originally posted this under Flock Management with no response.
Hoping for meaningful feedback.
Thanks!
Online
New comer to BYC. I have read several posting over time from BYC, but up to now have not participated. But I have a problem and hoping that I can get some feedback from experienced chicken folk. A couple of weeks ago while I was out of town, my husband noticed one of my hens on the nest and the next evening he noticed she was still there so he looked a little closer and she was dead. Again this week I found another hen who also was dead in the nest. I found another hen laying under the roost dead. Then again in my pullet house I have found two pullets dead. I checked for any injuries, bites, etc but found nothing. My husband (a former chicken inspector) did post mortem on the latest and she looked completely healthy, organs looking normal, no worms, etc. I found no lice, fleas, etc. None of these birds were exhibiting any signs of illness. After doing some internet checking I thought possibly I may have overlooked a red mite infestation. But I spent quite a bit of time with the hens and in the pullet house and found no signs on the roost or the nest of red mites. I have noticed that several of my hens appear to be going through a molt. That said... the hens and pullets found dead did not show any noticable feather loss. Again, there were no bites or injury, no blood found. Very frustrated!
I originally posted this under Flock Management with no response.
Hoping for meaningful feedback.
Thanks!
Online
