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[Californiachick]

We have lost three chicken so far. These chickens are pets.

They go into their coop at dusk and are out all day. We feed them scraps and chicken fed daily and have plenty of water available for them at all times. Our problem is their "tail" starts to "droop". They act normal, eat and drink, it takes about three weeks after we notice their tails drooping that they die. Help! They are about three years old.
Thank you.

 

[hinkjc]

The only sure way to know what is going on is to have one sent for necropsy. Locate a state vet and make arrangements ahead of time of what needs to be done when a bird dies. They will give you instructions and you'll know what to do when the next one passes. Other than that, we will need more symptoms to try to figure this out. Could the scraps have mold? Could it be internal laying issues? Worms, parasites, etc. Anything you can think of may be helpful. I am sorry for your losses.

Jody

 

[eggchel]

CaliforniaChick,

I dont know where you are located in CA, but here is a link to the site locations of the labs for CAHFS (CA Animal Health and Food Safety labs) which is part of UC Davis.
http://cahfs.ucdavis.edu/show.php?id=104
They routinely perform FREE necropsies on farm animals for both commercial and backyard livestock. Usually there are no fees for backyard flocks. Once I was charged $12 when we dropped off just blood samples from the flock, but all other times it has been free.

They are extremely thorough and will do an examination, necropsy, blood tests, cultures, and slides to check all the organs, etc. If you give them your email they will email about 3 or 4 reports to you as the results come back from the labs.

Use the Standard submission form. You can ship dead birds via Fed EX, packed with one of those lunch box ice packs, not real ice. Dont freeze the dead chicken, just keep it cold before shipping or delivery. Dead birds can be dropped off 24/7 at most labs. Live (sick) birds can be dropped off night or day and by arrangement on weekends.

It is a really great service.




chel

 

[Californiachick]

Hinkjc and Eggcel,

I thank you for replying so quickly. I have been online looking up different things on your advice. I looked up Internal Laying. I have never heard of that before. I am new to Chickens. I will keep an eye on our Chickens, make sure they have the right food. And maybe Vitamins?
(Their names are Grace. All of them. My daughter who was three at the time when got them named them all Grace

Thank you again. This is a great site for anyone with chickens.

 

[chrissieg]

Have you got a duff bag of feed - just a thought

?

It's always sad when you lose old friends........

 

[dlhunicorn]

you did not mention worming your birds... worms will kill your bird and if you have never wormed them this very well might be the culprit...you can take a sample in to a vet and he can check out what kind so you will choose the right med to give them for it if this turns out to be the case