Help! My chicken are dying :/

[Mrs. K]

Really, I think it is just old age. It sounds exactly like what happens to mine when they die of old age, they are just dead. It is not your feeding program or your watering program.

I would not treat all the other hens, because of two deaths a month apart. If the rest are acting fine, they probably are fine.

I would look at new chicks to replace them!

Often times, people new to chickens tend to look at them like pets, and individuals, and are highly distressed when one dies. Try looking at it as a flock, where as, individual birds will come into and out of the flock. While there are instances on here posted of very old chickens, generally speaking, a more realistic age for a chicken is about 3 years. To me, a 4 year old chicken is a VERY old chicken. I also have the theory, that places with warmer winters than ours, get longer lived chickens. And higher quality chickens probably live longer too, but it can depend. The good news is that you can always add a few chicks each year, and that is fun.

I think you are doing fine,

Mrs K

 

[vsecretz]

Mrs K - I appreciate your feedback. I too, think it could be a case of old age. I'm really not sure how long the previous owners had these chickens but there's a neighbor close to me who apparently, got chickens from the same place and time frame as the chickens we have now. So, I think having a chat with him might help.

All of the chickens left do look a bit "younger" than the 2 "twins" that died. They were a tiny bit bigger than all the rest size wise and they just "looked" like they've been around for a bit. Luckily, everyone else seems to be doing just fine.

I will take your advice into looking to add to the flock but honestly, after going from 10 to now 8, it does provide a little more wiggle room in the run that already existed before we got here and of course inside the coop. However, I think it would also be cool to pick out a chicken or two of my choice this time.

 

[bobbi-j]

Mrs K - I appreciate your feedback. I too, think it could be a case of old age. I'm really not sure how long the previous owners had these chickens but there's a neighbor close to me who apparently, got chickens from the same place and time frame as the chickens we have now. So, I think having a chat with him might help.

All of the chickens left do look a bit "younger" than the 2 "twins" that died. They were a tiny bit bigger than all the rest size wise and they just "looked" like they've been around for a bit. Luckily, everyone else seems to be doing just fine.

I will take your advice into looking to add to the flock but honestly, after going from 10 to now 8, it does provide a little more wiggle room in the run that already existed before we got here and of course inside the coop. However, I think it would also be cool to pick out a chicken or two of my choice this time.

I agree with Mrs. K. When I let my chickens get over 3 years old or so, they do start dying of seemingly unknown causes. As far as worming them, I have never wormed my chickens. I wouldn't treat them unless they are showing symptoms.

 

[vsecretz]

bobbi-j ... thanks. I haven't seen any signs of worms, not in the coop nor their poop and nothing visible that I could see on them. So I more than likely will not worm. The eggs we've been getting from them as well all have seemed to be quite fine.

 

[enola]

Sometimes the first symptom of worms is chickens dying.... There are many types of worms that you will never see any signs of.

 

[bobbi-j]

Sometimes the first symptom of worms is chickens dying.... There are many types of worms that you will never see any signs of.

I'm sure you're right, Enola. My question would be, if there were an infestation, wouldn't the OP have lost more than those two chickens in a month? This is not a problem I've had, so I have to ask.

 

[enola]

Not necessarily so, chickens can have worms a long time before they succumb to the worms. Some chickens tolerate worms better than others. It is completely up to the caretaker yo decide to worm or not worm. Personally, if a chicken of mine starts looking sickly, the first thing I check is the last time I wormed. If it has been more than 6 months, every chicken I own gets wormed. The next thing I check is their poop. (Knock on wood) I have never had a chicken just fall over dead.

 

[WinterChicks]

Not necessarily so, chickens can have worms a long time before they succumb to the worms. Some chickens tolerate worms better than others. It is completely up to the caretaker yo decide to worm or not worm. Personally, if a chicken of mine starts looking sickly, the first thing I check is the last time I wormed. If it has been more than 6 months, every chicken I own gets wormed. The next thing I check is their poop. (Knock on wood) I have never had a chicken just fall over dead.

I did once..have a chicken fall over. A young Speckled Sussex. She was laying, suddenly stopped, wormed her, treated for gapeworm, egg-bounding and everything else..she made these wierd high sounding coughs, and one morning I went out the thecoop and she was on the ground dead, we live in an area where the predators are hawks and cats, and the cats leave them alone anyways. She had been laying soft shelled eggs. I never did know what was wrong with her-even after doing an autopsy. She was pretty skinny though, but I had been feeding her watermelon and other foods I read about.

What kind of wormer do you use?

 

[enola]

Safeguard or Valbazen

 

[gkatherine62]

My chickens started dying. Because of the bird flu I was terrified. I went to TSC and bought some red dirt (it has another name, I just can't think of it), some emergency respiratory stuff (it is in a yellow box and is for cattle, etc as well as poultry), and some probiotics with electrolytes (for healthy). I cleaned my entire barn and chicken coops. I lay down the red dirt and then the straw. I have been changing out the water every 6 hours during the day time. After 3 days, I did not have any chickens die. The red dirt is somewhat expensive but it is a natural antibiotic, antimites, etc. I don't know what it was but the Agricultural Department and Health Department came out and said it wasn't the bird flu but couldn't tell me what it was.