chickens dying!! ahhhh!!

[Wynette]

Glad you got them in! Of COURSE they seem fine now! You're watching for symptoms, which they never want to show until you're looking away!

 

[chickenannie]

Besides the truck coolant, could they have gotten into any kind of rat poison or toxic substance?

Other than that, I'd check for worms or diarrhea (coccidosis)??

There's also a link somewhere on BYC with a long list of chicken diseases and symptoms. It's not always that helpful cuz then your hen has ALL the symptoms of every disease, but it might help??
Sorry i don't know where it is. Maybe check with CUDA or dlunicorn's site?

 

[akyramoto]

its one of those things that you never know what they could've gotten into. I know that they go in the garage - to my knowledge theres nothing they can get into....I dont keep any fertilizers or 'yard chemicals' at all. there is the compost piles - one for garden scraps, and kitchen waste ( no meat, mostly coffee grounds and veggie scraps) and a compost pile for grass clippings & doggie poo.

Right now they're doing well. turned on their mister so they'd be more comfy.

I think i'm going to build another chicken tractor & split them up between the two & go that route. I think that might keep them safer in the long run.

With my kitties being little killing machines theres no telling how many little mouse or gopher carcasses are on my property - we toss the ones we find, but there are a lot of places we dont look that often. My kitties are my poisons

 

[akyramoto]

update:
I still have no idea why the chickens died. The remaining chickens 6 of them ( ahh!! its the smallest number or chickens I've ever had!) are in the chicken tractor. I've decided to build another tractor & have 3 hens in each one. I feel that they will be safe in the tractors while getting to scratch on new ground & I'll have an easier time cleaning the smaller 'coop' area. My current coop is an old 12x12 horse stall with a dirt floor. I've never really liked it, but when i had 24 chickens I had to use it.

No one else has died, I'm very happy about that.

I'll post some pics of the new tractor when it's finished

 

[Wynette]

Have you had a chance to examine their poop to make sure it's normal?

 

[gumpsgirl]

Oh my! I just ran across your post and have to tell you that I am so sorry to read about this.

It isn't fun loosing your chickens, especially when you don't know what the cause is. It leaves you feeling so helpless. I wish I could offer more in the way of diagnosis rather than support, but all I can give is support and hope your chickens do better. Again, so sorry.

 

[akyramoto]

Quote:
So far everything looks normal from what I've seen. They're all eating & drinking normally. The poo's that I've seen so far look normal.

I found an old fish tank out back that my old roomie had left. it was full of green water ( algae)....could that have been it? you know how chickens are - they'll drink just about anything.

 

[akyramoto]

Hey everyone, just wanted to give an update - since keeping the chickens in their tractors I haven't lost another one. They were definitely getting into something bad - I may not ever find out what it was. Just happy the rest are ok now.

 

[chickens4jojo]

Oh, I don't have any advice, but I am so sorry about the loss of your chickens...

 

[Jenski]

Thanks for updating us on your chickens! I am glad they are doing better. It is indeed frustrating and challenging dealing with chicken health ~ as you have found, there are so many overlapping symptoms!

Thanks again ~ it is comforting to hear of successes among the forum folk.


Jen in TN - dreaming of being back in California again . . .