Help! Lethargic hen

[MountainChickenMama]

My light brahma who is just over a year has taken a turn for the worse. It seems like every time we switch them to pellet food, someone gets sick......could pellets be causing this dying issue or is it just coincidental?? She probably won't make it through the night. The last 2-3 that passed were egg bound. I provide oyster shells in the diet and they are on Layena food. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thx! She is so you for be passing on so quick.

 

[seminolewind]

It's hard to say what is killing them. I doubt the pellets are because so many chickens are on them. I don't use them because I was finding undigested pellets in their stool. Maybe they didn't drink enough. I don't see how 2-3 in a row get eggbound. Sounds like something's not right.

 

[MountainChickenMama]

I agree, but how can I figure out what's not right, LOL. They always have water, food, etc....

 

[mithious]

It's hard to say what is killing them. I doubt the pellets are because so many chickens are on them. I don't use them because I was finding undigested pellets in their stool. Maybe they didn't drink enough. I don't see how 2-3 in a row get eggbound. Sounds like something's not right.

seimolewind, a lot of these hatchery chickens, they are finding, around two they start having issues with laying...I have read a bunch on it...since this is my first hatchery lot...seems the genes are so messed up, to produce the high egg production that it is becoming more and more prevalent....the big laying houses kill their hens at 2, so they don't have to deal with less eggs and to get out of having to deal with this very issue also....lots on youtube about the big production chicken companies and that is where these chicks we get come from, the same lot of companies....IMHO they have messed too much with the genetics and are now seeing problems showing up a few years down the road from it...atleast from what I have read and watched on video. These poor hatchery chickens are just genetically "assembled" for lack of a better word I can think of at the moment, for mass egg production and are a mix match of mutts...I think they need to reassess their breeding or propogation methods, as they have not changed since the 1950's that much!!!

I wish people would start buying from the breeders that are doing lots of genetic diversity and are far more responsible, with healthier chickens, bred for immunities, and longer laying ect ect...but alas, the chicks from hatcheries are cheap, they are being marketed to this new urban chicken owner through marketing strategies that are less than the truth...I read a few and was pretty mad at the way they put it across, so many not quite truths, but not quite lies....it's all about money!!!! Not the chicken and their health!!!

 

[MountainChickenMama]

This particular one is a hatchery chicken. She never really layed well though.....the others that I lost were not hatchery chickens and they were between 2-3 years old.