Help Golden Sebright Hens are dieing.

[Thavg]

I have a flock of now 18 Sebrights and a couple days ago I went out to let them out and three hens were dead for what must have been awhile they were stiff when I took care of them. It was one of our colder nights that we have had also. The hens were not mutilated but one of them had it's insides out it's bottom. This morning I went out and I have another dead hen outside without any mutilation and last night was very mild weather wise. They do have a vent in the coop that they will sometimes let themselves out of in the morning if they want to get out before I open them up. I just find it strange that it is only hens that are dieing on me and I really have no idea what is killing them. They were born the last week of June and are just reaching maturity. Ten hens with eight roosters I also have another flock of standard size chickens but they are kept in seperate coops. Any idea's of what I may be looking at as the problem? I am really at a loss as to what is happening. I do have two dogs that enjoy terrorizing the chicks but I know there is no possible way they could have gotten to the first hree hens that died and I just find it perplexing that it has been four straight hens and no roosters. Thanks for any help.

 

[robin416]

Any thing that could be told to you would just be guess work. What you really need to do is stand back and observe your flock. Pay attention to everything they do. Is anything off? Check the remaining birds over for general condition.

One of the things that Cynthia I talked about a couple weeks ago is that the hens have a harder time because their bodies have to do so much more to produce eggs. So if any small thing is off in the coop, be it feed, water, cleanliness, they are usually the first to show signs.

BTW, 8 roos with ten hens? Even for bantams that is way too many unless they are in separate pens.

 

[Thavg]

All the other chickens are running around fine and do not seem to show any signs of problems. Actually they seem to be extra spunky. There wouldn't be any chance that the extra roosters would be causing this would there?

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
I'm not sure I'm completely understanding about this vent but keep in mind that anything big enough for a chicken to get out of is also an opening for a predator to get in. How high is this opening?

 

[Thavg]

The vent is at the top of the coop probably about seven feet high. I cut it into the peak so they would have more air flow in the hot summer months and they end up really liking to roost on it at night, they will line up on it when getting ready for the night. I have never really had any problems with it before just that sometimes a couple of them might hop out to free range before I open the coop up. But that is usually the roosters anyways that sneak out early. Being that it is all all hens that have died on me and there is not much damage to the bodies that is what really has me wondering what is going on with them. We have had hawk attacks before and this bears no similarities to it.

 

[Thavg]

To Robin: How many roosters would you recommend keeping with ten hens?