Chickens don't last long due to illness.

[Mattemma]

So I have just found that another of my hens has a fluid filled mass on her chest. She is the EE in my photo album that was attacked by a hawk. She is about 3 years old.Her mass is the size of a baseball.She is eating,drinking,and laying a blue egg everyday.

Another EE from the same hatch had a mass on her rear.It got huge and infected, and she had to be culled.

Before that I had a RSL hen from TSC that swelled up so much in the front she waddled like a penguin.

What is up with my chickens? They roam the yard.They eat mostly purina layer pellets.Sometimes I give them BOSS and scratch in the winter.In the summer they eat worms and japanese beetles.They get some oats too.

I found one hen dead in the coop.No swelling.She was also a RSL from TSC,and she was about 2 years old.

Is the feed the bad stuff? The scratch?Are they just developing health issues because they normally would not live long? I just don't know what to do to keep them healthy.

Do your chickens last a long time? I am down to 3 EE hens(one sick), and a RSL that doesn't even lay eggs.

 

[bj taylor]

perhaps the "fluid filled mass" in the two is related in that they both suffered an attack and bacteria was introduced into their flesh by teeth or talons. I don't know anything about antibiotic treatments, but maybe look into that.

another possibility is that where you get your chickens is buying them from a hatchery that has a chronic health problem and subsequently, you're getting compromised babies.

In your situation, I would do what I could to resolve the existing health issues while not getting more birds. after a few months when you're sure nothing further is developing, I would seriously clean the coop/run and order chicks from another hatchery.

this is just suggestion. i'm no expert. I sure wish you luck

 

[Mattemma]

Thanks for your posting. Only one chicken was hawk attacked. I got the EE's from the kids school in 2010. They hatched eggs they got locally.The RSL hens are from TSC in 2009 and I don't know where they get it.

I will do a super good disinfection of the shed when things warm up. I will definitely not get any more chickens for a bit. I love them but feeling a bit down dealing with negatives.

 

[Going Quackers]

The masses sadly would play a role in shorter lives. Otherwise, not sure what to say, sounds like your doing everything right. I use Purina flock raiser here.

I think the one thing i have learned with poultry is you have to expect loss, and it's not always about doing something wrong or right, some things can not be spotted or treated.

I have only lost one bird, to natural causes and that was a duck, i think hindsight wonderful thing she was egg bound and i missed it, although i could be totally wrong, it wasn't where she came from( i still own two from the same place) and wasn't some disease as i have had many birds after her, a bit of a mystery that will always puzzle me.

I am sorry it's been such a rough road though, it's not fun when it goes this way. We've gotten into occasionally breeding the ducks and that is one not for the faint of heart, you get loses when doing that, which is the less than pleasant side to dealing with the joy of new ones when breeding.