Chickens with bad appetite -- lost 3 last night

[supercoops]

I'd appreciate any helpful suggestions you might have. I'm fairly new with chicken-rearing and I started with 24 chicks last spring. Now I have 20. 3 are really lethargic and they have a stool that's almost clear.

see picture. There are 6 chickens in the right pen with about 60 square feet of run and they are doing fine today. There are 17 in the left pen and I lost 3 last night. Their run is only about 100 square feet. They're juvenile birds but the run is too small and I've been trying to fix it but my time has other priorities.

The chickens on the left were doing great only a week ago, and the change started after I put down pine shavings on the ground -- which is supposed to be ok according to poultry guidelines I read. The hens on the left couldn't scratch the ground to eat, and neither could the ones on the right, but those remained healthy.

Last night the temperature dropped into the mid-50s, and this morning the 14 remaining birds looked pretty sick. My daughter and I have been hand-feeding 3 of them and I expanded the run by 160 square feet today in addition to what we already had. I wsas already planning to do that today -- but to late for 3 of them. I also set-up 4 roost boxes for them. each roost box is 22 x 42 for the bottom and 30 inch tall.

thanks much. We just don't want to lose 3 more, and it isn't looking good.

 

[ChickenLover172]

The only thing I can think of is that a disease has occurred and is spreading in the flock. The disease may have spread from the pine shavings. If three of them are already dead, this is a major issue. The sick chickens need to be isolated immediately! Find out the symptoms they are showing and research them to see how to treat them. Until then, keep everything as clean as possible. If it's not a disease, the pine shavings may need to only be put in the nesting boxes and the coop. Chickens need to have a balanced diet and part of that includes bugs and things on the bare ground. You can also consider letting them out into the yard to get the nutrients they need- if it's safe.

 

[supercoops]

Thanks CL, I'm also in NC. I think the chill last night made things worse.

I also put shavings in the right pen at the same time, and those chickens are quite lively.

I let the sick ones run the yard today, just like you said, and about half of them are almost back to normal after picking through the turf. We fed them blackberries and blueberries out of our yard, and that perked them up.

The pine shavings are horse-bedding and it's supposed to be clean. Shavings are ok for the coop/roosts, but I had second thoughts when I put it on the ground. It seems like chickens are just made to scratch and shavings interfere. Even the healthy six slowed down for a couple of days and then came back to normal.

 

[cafarmgirl]

To be honest I seriously doubt it had anything to do with the shavings. Especially good, kiln dried shavings that are sold as horse or pet bedding.

I don't know what's going on with your birds but with a lot of birds in too small a space, with the symptoms you describe and quick, multiple deaths, I would be running a course of treatment for coccidiosis even if just to be able to rule it out as a cause.

 

[aquagolda]

im not sure it could be the weather change but check to see if the others killed them because if they are bored or have to small of a space they will start to peck on each other and it can get so bad they will kill them, especially since you have so many and so little pen space

 

[supercoops]

im not sure it could be the weather change but check to see if the others killed them because if they are bored or have to small of a space they will start to peck on each other and it can get so bad they will kill them, especially since you have so many and so little pen space

I've further identified the problem -- the sickest birds were sleeping on the ground underneath the coop.

I raised all 24 chickens from baby chicks. The chickens on the left were raised at ground level in a very secure area that kept out the predators. The chickens on the right were more exposed to predator risk, but they had more space. Also their brooder box had 2 levels so they could roost.

Now that I have 4 roosts in place on the left side, there are 2 chickens that would rather sleep behind them, and none of the chickens want the more elevated roosts. The remainder of the chickens want the roosts at the ground level. When they were chicks I just didn't have the room. Now that I provided the room I guess they're staying with the bad habits.

Maybe they picked up ailments.

 

[supercoops]

You mentioned isolation and that gives me an idea. I could divide them into two flocks and put the stronger ones in one flock and the weaker ones in the other flock. Each flock would have about 7 hens, whereas we currently have 14 hens in one group. If it's disease I risk losing half of them instead of all of them. The weak ones can be nurtured back to health with some TLC and some luck.

These are juvenile hens by the way.

 

[supercoops]

I found a good health guide from Mississippi State University. I haven't wormed any of my birds.

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/solutions.html

 

[ChickenLover172]

It's a good idea to worm your birds at least twice a year just to be sure that none of them are infected. some worms can cause quick deaths like you mentioned.

 

[supercoops]

It's a good idea to worm your birds at least twice a year just to be sure that none of them are infected. some worms can cause quick deaths like you mentioned.

I'll look into that today.