FoxInTheFarmHouse
In the Brooder
- Mar 8, 2023
- 6
- 37
- 44
I had a chicken pass away and am looking for some ideas on what may have lead to her death so we can decide what needs to be done with the rest of the flock. She was found dead on her side with her legs stretched out. There was no mess around her vent. She had nice shiny feathers and seemed to be of healthy body condition for her size (medium-sized ameraucana hen, hatched in June 2021, so just under 2 years old). The only thing we could find wrong was very red skin around one of her eyes and it seemed like her eye was a bit swollen. She had such a small comb it was virtually non-existent and what little there was appeared normal. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures as it was my husband's favorite hen and he was very distraught and buried her before I could go get my phone.
We have had a lot of sudden temperature changes and the weather has been unusually wet. We have had a difficult time keeping the coop and run dry with lots of small and sudden snow storms that quickly undo all of the work we have done putting down new stall pellets and straw in the coop. There is lots of ventilation in the coop far above where they roost. (The coop is a walk-in resin storage shed with roosts only at about elbow height).
The other birds all seem healthy and there really were no new additions. We did integrate 5 ducks we have had for 5 months with the other ducks the chickens share a run with last week, but there has been no problem with fighting and the chickens are very much the ones at the top of the pecking order over the ducks, including the new ones. The rooster keeps the fighting to a minimum and she was not his current favorite, though she was about the middle of the pecking order in the chicken flock. All but four of the chickens were vaccinated for Mereks and those four were hatched from my flock. They have not been free-range since August when I had a raccoon take two chickens during the day. She was one of the chickens that was vaccinated.
We did switch our feed very suddenly this week when our feed order got delayed. We have been feeding Kalmbach and Monday we had to switch to Purina on short notice.
Any ideas on what I should be watching for with the other birds? All of them look fine right now. I haven't noticed any coughing or sneezing and their eyes all looked fine when I checked them over after finding her.
We have had a lot of sudden temperature changes and the weather has been unusually wet. We have had a difficult time keeping the coop and run dry with lots of small and sudden snow storms that quickly undo all of the work we have done putting down new stall pellets and straw in the coop. There is lots of ventilation in the coop far above where they roost. (The coop is a walk-in resin storage shed with roosts only at about elbow height).
The other birds all seem healthy and there really were no new additions. We did integrate 5 ducks we have had for 5 months with the other ducks the chickens share a run with last week, but there has been no problem with fighting and the chickens are very much the ones at the top of the pecking order over the ducks, including the new ones. The rooster keeps the fighting to a minimum and she was not his current favorite, though she was about the middle of the pecking order in the chicken flock. All but four of the chickens were vaccinated for Mereks and those four were hatched from my flock. They have not been free-range since August when I had a raccoon take two chickens during the day. She was one of the chickens that was vaccinated.
We did switch our feed very suddenly this week when our feed order got delayed. We have been feeding Kalmbach and Monday we had to switch to Purina on short notice.
Any ideas on what I should be watching for with the other birds? All of them look fine right now. I haven't noticed any coughing or sneezing and their eyes all looked fine when I checked them over after finding her.
