hens dying one at a time

[galofgrog]

Over the past 3 months, I have lost four birds (1 a rooster) I purchased an antibiotic but have not added it to the water as I am not sure what is causing the illness. I wash feeder and water container with a bleach soap combination and rinse thoroughly. I change shavings often. I added some birds to this room in my coop about 5 months ago and three of those have died. I bought them from a farmer locally. I have 17 in the other side of the coop and they are all healthy. any suggestions welcome.
many thanks. only obvious symptoms is some diarrehea. joyinmaine

 

[cafarmgirl]

Unfortunately there are a whole lot of possibilities. Was there any off behavior at all before the birds died other then the diarrhea? Has the flock been dewormed on a regular basis? Treated for mites? You are right not to attempt to treat by just throwing an antibiotic at them. Without knowing what the problem is there is no way to know what the correct medication would be. If you have access to an avian vet I would take a bird in to see if they can help you. Or check with vets in your area to help you find a place that could do a necropsy on any more birds that die and maybe get some answers that way.

 

[Patchesnposies]

I would look up the symptoms of Coccidiosis. Did you quarantine the birds you bought from another place before introducing them the birds you have? There is medicine you can give for cocci (Corid~I bought mine off of ebay it was not expensive).

You might have to treat all of your birds for three weeks then a week off....then repeat. Before you get rid of it entirely. The best way to determine absolutely that you have it would be to have a stool sample taken to a vet to test.

Cocci can certainly cause diarrhea-usually bloody.

So sorry! I hope your losses stop and you figure out what is caussing it.

 

[galofgrog]

thank you ...I have ordered some of the product and treat all of the birds in that coop. Right now, none of them are showing any symptoms of being unhealthy. appreciate you help