have lost 3 chickens in the last week

[eeyore]

we don't know what the problems is, just found them dead.. two hens ealier and our rooster yesterday..
this is after we had a battle with racoons..
i guess we aren't meant to have chickens?

 

[rooster-red]

How old were they?
How long have you had them?
There are so many illnesses that can strike without warning that its hard to say what happened without a necropsy.

Try to give us a little more info, like what you've been feeding, how they were acting, how did their poop look, etc...

Maybe someone can recognize the symptoms and help expain what happened.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[chixrme]

Eeyore- please follow Rooster-Red's suggestion; there are SO many experienced people on this forum that you are almost guaranteed to get some insight into your situation. On top of all, you have my sympathies. Don't give up!

 

[seminolewind]

Ditto from Chixrme.

 

[eeyore]

i am not sure how old they were.. the rooster we got from a friend who has many chickens and does well with them.. the hens we got from someone who was depleteing their chickens and we had had them for a while.. a year or longer. feed we were giving them chicken feed and cracked corn mixed. what we have fed them for some timen now. Not sure about their poop.. didn't pay any attention really.
if you all need more info just let me know..
they were acting fine.. at least we thought.. we just found them dead one day in the coop..

 

[rooster-red]

This will probably sound funny, but...
You can tell alot about whats going on with chickens from their poop.

I wish I could give you an answer about what killed them, but there are alot of things out there that can kill them silently such as viruses and parasites and there are missing pieces to the puzzle.

When you get more chickens (not IF) try to be aware of their poop, there are some excellent links to articles that can help you diagnose problems.

dlhunicorn has an excellent page on poo-oligy.

As a side note: Cracked corn should be fed as a treat as it has little nutritional value, and will raise body temp. Best fed in winter to help them stay warm.

Sorry for your loss, don't give up.

 

[eeyore]

thanks for the help and info.
the cracked corn was being mixed with the feed. my oldest son who helps with them said we had ran out of food and he was just letting them scratch.. he said i bet that did it.. and i said no.. they had done that before and was fine.
my inlaws are worried about the bird flu.
also they had not cleaned the coop in a while.. so he thinks he may have killed them..
i think they may have gotten a virus from something.. but not sure..
i am not giving up.. not yet..

 

[dlhunicorn]

chickens need their daily (commercial) feed mix... mixing scratch in with that will dilute the nutrition.
If you had not wormed tthem for a while this may have been the problem.
So sorry you lost your birds.

 

[eeyore]

oh wow i didn't know about the deworming them.. where can you get worming meds and how do you give it to them?
the guy we did get some of the chickens he is the one who told us to mix cracked corn in with the feed to help the feed go further.. he has had chickens forever.. and he does not seem to have any problem with that..
i will have to remember this though.

 

[dlhunicorn]

http://shilala.homestead.com/ivomec.html