Can someone please guess on what might be occuring with my girls? They turned two in March, and I have lost three since then.
Basically, egg production was great until the middle of last summer. Then, I started getting alot of soft-shelled eggs and general poor production. I was feeding them different layer feed, along with oyster shell, some kitchen scraps and a bit of scratch now and then.
Their symptoms were gradual (months), but it went like this: Chronic green diarrhea, lack of luster, increasing emaciation, eventual death. Two of them had abdominal ascites, one of which was very severe.
In March, as their decline was becoming more apparent, I wormed them and began to treat the coop for lice and mites frequently. I also tried putting garlic and ACV in their water along with some vitamin/electolytes. I fed them a yogurt mash, and tried upping their protein.
I did not give them any antibiotics, because I was not sure what I would need to get or where to get it from. None of our local feed stores carry any, and the closest vet that has experience is almost two hours away and very expensive (apparently pultry health is a specialty). I did not do any type of autopsies on them, because I honestly was not sure what I would be looking for or how to go about it. I probably should have. The poultry vet said that she would do a necropsy, but I needed to get the body their within a day. This was impossible because of my schedule and her distance away from me.
I have three girls left out of my original six, and they seem to be in acceptable health. I am worried that they will become ill as well, or are carriers of something weird like LL. I would like increase my flock next spring, but I need to make sure that I'm not bringing any more chickens into an environment that is 'sick'. I'm just wondering if I should go ahead and treat my remaining chickens with some type of antibiotic just to be safe?
Any advice or ideas is greatly appreciated.
Basically, egg production was great until the middle of last summer. Then, I started getting alot of soft-shelled eggs and general poor production. I was feeding them different layer feed, along with oyster shell, some kitchen scraps and a bit of scratch now and then.
Their symptoms were gradual (months), but it went like this: Chronic green diarrhea, lack of luster, increasing emaciation, eventual death. Two of them had abdominal ascites, one of which was very severe.
In March, as their decline was becoming more apparent, I wormed them and began to treat the coop for lice and mites frequently. I also tried putting garlic and ACV in their water along with some vitamin/electolytes. I fed them a yogurt mash, and tried upping their protein.
I did not give them any antibiotics, because I was not sure what I would need to get or where to get it from. None of our local feed stores carry any, and the closest vet that has experience is almost two hours away and very expensive (apparently pultry health is a specialty). I did not do any type of autopsies on them, because I honestly was not sure what I would be looking for or how to go about it. I probably should have. The poultry vet said that she would do a necropsy, but I needed to get the body their within a day. This was impossible because of my schedule and her distance away from me.
I have three girls left out of my original six, and they seem to be in acceptable health. I am worried that they will become ill as well, or are carriers of something weird like LL. I would like increase my flock next spring, but I need to make sure that I'm not bringing any more chickens into an environment that is 'sick'. I'm just wondering if I should go ahead and treat my remaining chickens with some type of antibiotic just to be safe?
Any advice or ideas is greatly appreciated.
