Help My Hens Are Dying!!!

[Elite Silkies]

Quote:
Could they have sour crop? You mentioned a liquid draining from their mouth, does it have an odor?

 

[chickenzoo]

Have they been wormed? Worms can pull them down pretty fast..... Lice and mites too... you can see them often around the vent area. Has your feed gotten moldy at all? You can find your local State Department of Ag & Industry, ours does necrospsys for 0 -$30 for up to 3 chickens so you can find out whats wrong. Sorry this is your intro to chickens....

 

[tarillow]

Quote:
Could they have sour crop? You mentioned a liquid draining from their mouth, does it have an odor?

I have no idea on even how to tell if it's sour crop. i looked it up and read on the treatment but I'm having a hard time understanding it. And for the liquid outta the mouth I didn't smell it real close. But there wasn't any strong obvious odor from when I pick her up to remove her from the coop.

 

[tarillow]

Quote:
I'm gonna go down to the feed store to get some wormer and anything else I can get to try treating these girls and I'm gonna talk to my vet and see if they'll treat poultry. I know my feed aint moldy I keep it on a covered porch and I only buy enough for about two weeks at a time, so it doesn't sit around to long. Yea it sucks that this is my intro but atleast I'm learning, even though its the hard way.

 

[WilczenskiFarm]

Do you have one of your dead ones readily available... if so, take a goooood look at her, feel around her body etc. This might help.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I had one drop dead, no signs of any problems: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=172548

 

[miss.eggonomics]

i feel so sorry about your chickens and i hope you find out what is going on

 

[tarillow]

Quote:
yea i have a dead one but i can't find anything obvious. if i can find a vet that'll look at them i'll probably have the dead one looked at too.

 

[tarillow]

Well as I said earlier I brought my favorite del. hen (Bossy) in the house this morning and have been monitoring her. she's eating and drinking really good. she tries to walk around but just wobbles. so i really think something is attacking her nervous system. and my gf thinks she has something wrong with her respritory system it sounds like she's weezing. And I picked her up for further inspection and i found a small bald spot on her top left wing but nothing else. And I checked the vent area and she don't seem to have anything wrong there. I checked the cage to see and poop but i found a tiny little bit. And the crop i tried to feel for but it just seems a little soft under her kneck on her chest area.

 

[write2caroline]

I think you should contact your state aggie person. Dept of Ag - Are you keeping them against any rules? They may be more help to you and have an avian vet look them over. I was thinking too - check for mold around the coop and/ or ammonia build up where they roost. Too much of either can make them sick, If it is ammonia I think you can buy carbon and that will help - I don't think it will hurt the chickens - hospitals use it for poisoning sometimes. Is it cold enough you can freeze one of them for study - I know that seems grisley but it could be important. ammonia is really bad and in cold weather when you want to keep them warm they might not have as good of air flow and before you know it you have an ammonia gas build up from their poop.

I lost 5 parakeets one year when I was using corn cob medium in their cages and I had no idea it was molding below and they were dropping left and right! I felt so bad. I looked at the top but it was underneath and quite bad. I was also working a lot and gotton lax about the weekly cleaning of the cages at the time.

Do you add a little Apple cidar Vinagar to the water?

I would use a spoon and put it up to your girl's beak, for the one you have inside and see if you can get fluids down her. Dehydration is bad too! Pouring it down her is really bad but If you get the spoon up to her beak she may drink on her own.

I will keep you in prayer and your chickee too! I am so sorry for your losses! I would be pulling out my hair with worry too!

Caroline