Chickens Mysteriously Dying

[Katelyn12345]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to this site and stumbled upon it after googling trying to find answers to my chicken problem.

My family and I decided to get chickens for the first time in May this year after making them a chook house and a nice big backyard for them. We started off with seven and now it is October and we have lost 4 of our chickens to mysterious illnesses. All four of the chickens seemed to get ill instantly and die within 1-2 days of noticing something was wrong. They begin to get sluggish and then die. We feed them good quality food, I make sure their water is clean every day.. We wormed them quite recently.. and we're now at a loss as to why they keep dying. I was wondering if anyone's been in the same situation or could offer some insight into why this may be happening.

Thanks,
Katelyn

 

[littlefarmgirl9]

Some fairly common chicken ailments include:
Crop (digestive) issues
-sour crop:foul smelling beak, watery feeling crop that won't drain overnight
-impacted crop: hard mass of food in crop, tennis ball sized, does not empty overnight
Laying problems:
-Egg bound: not laying, seems to be straining to breathes and poop, swollen abdomen
-egg broken internally: white or clear liquid from vent, symptoms of egg boundness
-egg yolk peritonitis: swollen abdomen, penguin like stance, not laying
Intestinal tract problems:
-Coccidiosis:diarrhea, bloody poop in severe cases
-Worms: general lack of interest, worms in poop
External:
-Lice/mites: lethargy, bugs at base of feathers and especially around vent

All of these are characterized by lethargy and 'depression'. Check your flock for these symptoms, and monitor them closely. If you catch anything else, let us know!