dead birds

[degonfler_l'amant]

This morning i went outside to let my chickens out and usually my RIR is the first one out..
lately she has been laying shellless eggs, has had a loss of feathers on her chest,it also looks like the wing was being eaten by something, she started roosting on the floor.
we also has a baby sexlink who had started having blood in its droppings, would just lay around and started being really lethargic,also had a loss of feathers on its back.
the RIR was found lying on its back dead this morning and the baby chick died last week in my hand of a heart attack
neither one of the birds were together or even in the same area at all so i do not know what they could have died from..and now i fear for the rest of the birds i have left none of them are showing signs and i have cleaned both coops.
i thought i could feed them medicated starter feed like the remaining baby chicks inside but i heard it is harmful to older birds so what else could i do to make sure i do not lose anymore birds?

 

[Cluck-a-Doodle-Doo]

Sounds like it could be coccidiosis but there are several possibilities. There are a few drugs used to treat it, we have used sulfa drugs with success.

http://fowlfacts.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=afflictiondiseaseff&action=display&thread=1213

 

[degonfler_l'amant]

yes the baby chick had coccidiosis but the older RiR was no where near the younger baby chick they are not tied in anyway possible so i do not see how the RIR could have caught it plus older birds build up an immunity to coccidiosis

Quote:

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

degonfler_l'amant :

This morning i went outside to let my chickens out and usually my RIR is the first one out..
lately she has been laying shellless eggs, has had a loss of feathers on her chest,it also looks like the wing was being eaten by something, she started roosting on the floor.

I'm sorry about your chicks. Her wing looked like it was being eaten by something? That sounds like it might of had something to do with her untimely demise....​

 

[degonfler_l'amant]

yes i will post a few pics of what it looked like it wasnt like animal more like an uneven wing clipping
Quote:
I'm sorry about your chicks. Her wing looked like it was being eaten by something? That sounds like it might of had something to do with her untimely demise....

 

[babsbag]

degonfler_l'amant :

i thought i could feed them medicated starter feed like the remaining baby chicks inside but i heard it is harmful to older birds so what else could i do to make sure i do not lose anymore birds?

I have been feeding medicated feed to my hens that are raising their brood. It has been about 6 weeks with no problems. I read on BYC that it is ok for the hens to eat this food.

I am sorry about your birds, I hope someone else has some ideas.​

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

degonfler_l'amant :

yes i will post a few pics of what it looked like it wasnt like animal more like an uneven wing clipping
Quote:
I'm sorry about your chicks. Her wing looked like it was being eaten by something? That sounds like it might of had something to do with her untimely demise....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/57995_red.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/57995_red1.jpg​

Hmmm, looks like the feather plucking that my broody's do when they about to sit on eggs. You say she was roosting on the floor? Was she sitting on a nest of the floor?

 

[Wynette]

That's what I was going to suggest, Neeley - they pick their feathers out of their chest when they are going broody (wanting to hatch eggs). It sounds like you may have other issues, though, if you had a few chicks die. How do you know the one died of a heart attack? Have they been wormed, did you check for external parasites such as mites/lice? How old is the hen that died?

 

[degonfler_l'amant]

Quote:
yea but as you can see in the pictures of my RIR above she would not of have picked her wings like that so it has to be something other than molting.
the baby chick was in my hands as it died so i saw it have a heart attack i went to the feed store i bought it from and explained what happened they determined it was a heart atack.
the baby chick that died had been wormed at the feed store before we bought it
and the RIR whom was about a year old when she died has never been wormed or had a dust bath for mites/lice..what kind of problems could that pose for them?
but again the baby sexlink who died was never in the same area as the older RIR who died or vice versa so i dont see how they couldve had the same disease

 

[degonfler_l'amant]

Quote:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/57995_red.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/57995_red1.jpg

Hmmm, looks like the feather plucking that my broody's do when they about to sit on eggs. You say she was roosting on the floor? Was she sitting on a nest of the floor?

no there is bedding on the floor of the coop but all of the roosts and nest are up high she would always lay in the nesting boxes but as she got worse and lost more feathers she roosted on the floor and sometimes layed her eggs on the floor of the roost