Dying five month old chickens and non laying older pullets

[flockmomma]

I haven't been on here much, as my goats are keeping me on my toes (breeding, roundworm issues, etc....).

My pullets, hatched in March, haven't been laying since August. Some look to be missing a few feathers on their heads near their combs, and a few throughout their body. This is a variety of breeds, to include EEs, BOs, BAs, and RSLs. The RSLs hung on the longest, and are the only ones I actually KNOW for sure were ever laying. The last one to stop laying stopped 2-3 weeks ago.

My seven month old EE Roo is still not crowing or pursuing pullets.

I also am having trouble with my younger batch of chicks, hatched in mid June. No signs of laying, and I have had several up and die. Not all at once, but here and there. A few just went missing here and there, but others I have found in the chicken coop dead. Most seemed perky and alright until I found them dead. One was perky until the night before she died. I found her standing near where my adult goat sleeps, sort of lethargic, and thought maybe she got stepped on. The day before, she had been hopping up on my doe's back to check out what food I had. No off stools that I have seen. There are two young Roos (leghorns) whose combs seem droopy and they seem a bit off. Their other leghorn Roo buddy got a droopy wing and comb before he died 3-4 weeks ago. He wasn't gimpy, just huddled a lot and looked off. It's not been a glut of losses, just one at a time, here and there. Not one particular breed either. A couple of losses we know are due to a predator (nearly full grown turkey's head was taken off nearly eight weeks ago, a hawk got a Polish). So far, our full size older chickens (7-8 months old) don't seem to be affected, unless the lack of eggs is any indicator.

Any thoughts on what might be going on?

 

[Nambroth]

There is definitely something going on-- I have heard folks say that "sometimes chickens just die" but there is always a reason. That you are losing more than one is a red flag. It could be a disease, or something else, or a combination of issues. If you are able to, you might consider contacting Wyoming's state agricultural extension office or state poultry experts and see if they can do a necropsy if you lose another bird. It would get you on the path to some answers, and let you know if there is anything you can do to prevent more losses. Unfortunately, there is little more that we can do besides make some guesses to help you. I hope you are able to find out what is going on!

 

[flockmomma]

I am starting by worming them - since we had roundworm issues with one of my doeling goats, we'll start there. We know it was roundworm because a fecal was done on that goat. She didn't have cocci in her stool.

We've. Also come to realize that our soil is iron-heavy, and it is causing copper deficiency issues with our goats. So I am getting samples tested to see what exactly is in our soil, in case it is interfering with mineral/vitamin exposure and absorption.

My husband recently processed our last two guineas, since two of our four were taken by predators, and the two we had left were males, and we honestly just decided that if we want guineas, we'll start afresh next year. I am kicking myself for not having him check the insides of the intestines for parasites.