I have lost 10 chickens in 4 years

[AngelicaRoss]

That sounds like the reason for deaths. Soft eggs are nasty. Egg shells are okay to feed, much better than bone meal IMO. I have been feeding it with no issues and no soft eggs, except 1 or 2 from new layers. But most of my layers are hens, so I havent gotten a soft egg in over a year. Last year I added a few chickens, so I got 2 soft eggs from 9 pullets, which isn't bad. Soft eggs are not a good sign, especially long term.

Even when they ate the eggshells they had thin shells.

 

[Quaen]

Bernadette was 3 and Cordelia was 3. Tilly who had a prolapse had also been laying lash eggs for about a year. So she may have had cancer.

Hens over 2 years old are prone to reproductive disorders, those are normal. But, you have too many roosters. Have you ever thought about cutting down on them?

 

[Quaen]

Even when they ate the eggshells they had thin shells.

It takes them a while to regulate. I don't know what your set up is like, but all my eggs have a thick shell. I have never had a chicken die from an egg breaking internally.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I've had birds love up to 9, have several in that 6-8 range now. However I have also lost (including chicks from hatcheries that never got over the stress and ones that get crushed in broody nests and ones that fall in water troughs and chicks that just go missing when out with mama) dozens, possibly close to triple digits. We lost 5 or 6 last year to eat poison, about a dozen over the years to predators (not including the duck flock wiped out by a dog or the turkey flock wiped out by a bobcat).

There will be deaths and the more birds you own, the more that will die from really anything

 

[AngelicaRoss]

Hens over 2 years old are prone to reproductive disorders, those are normal. But, you have too many roosters. Have you ever thought about cutting down on them?

I have 2 of them in their own pens. I could possibly pen the other two but I can't get rid of any of them.

 

[aart]

The one that was necropsied my vet said was healthy other than that.

Did they do labs or just gross anatomy?
What did they determine was the cause of death?

 

[AngelicaRoss]

Unfortunately my local vet is not that well versed with chickens. She sent samples and pictures to other avian vets. Labs were not done. The cause of death was ruled as a hepatic rupture. I had 2 other chickens die with the same symptoms. That was 4 years ago.

Did they do labs or just gross anatomy?
What did they determine was the cause of death

 

[Acre4Me]

Sorry for your losses!

sometimes chickens just die, unfortunately. We just had one die in the run (age 5 months). Although we don’t know why, it was shaped differently from its hatchmates (same breed). So, I’ll guess internal issue that was there before hatch and became unsustainable. We’ve had a couple others get injured and die from infection (despite treatment). Etc..a few more have died, but no other birds were sick, so we don’t have a known reason.

source: try a local source, or hatchery. We simply googled “hatchery in Ohio” and similar phrases to find a hatchery that is within driving distance of us (about an hour). Some people believe in hatching only eggs from hen older than a year, so they are fully developed and egg laying is sorted out with normal sized eggs.

Of course, keep in mind that you don’t want to get rid of your chickens, so it is important that you only buy females or have a separate (out of sight) area for the males to live.

good luck!

 

[AngelicaRoss]

Sorry for your losses!

sometimes chickens just die, unfortunately. We just had one die in the run (age 5 months). Although we don’t know why, it was shaped differently from its hatchmates (same breed). So, I’ll guess internal issue that was there before hatch and became unsustainable. We’ve had a couple others get injured and die from infection (despite treatment). Etc..a few more have died, but no other birds were sick, so we don’t have a known reason.

source: try a local source, or hatchery. We simply googled “hatchery in Ohio” and similar phrases to find a hatchery that is within driving distance of us (about an hour). Some people believe in hatching only eggs from hen older than a year, so they are fully developed and egg laying is sorted out with normal sized eggs.

Of course, keep in mind that you don’t want to get rid of your chickens, so it is important that you only buy females or have a separate (out of sight) area for the males to live.

good luck!

I have looked for local hatcheries there are none. I already have 4 roosters. I'm just going to give up at this point. Hopefully a few will live long lives and maybe the roosters will.

 

[Acre4Me]

I have looked for local hatcheries there are none. I already have 4 roosters. I'm just going to give up at this point. Hopefully a few will live long lives and maybe the roosters will.

Where, in general, are you located?