I need suggestions for a lab to choose.

[snaffle]

I am at my witts end. been battling this problem for 5 years or so. Have been doing medications and nothing is much better.

I have a bad problem with getting eggs to hatch. No embryos develop. So far this year I have had 2 good eggs in the incubator out of 30 something.

To make it worse, I only get one egg per day out of SEVEN hens.

Something is going on with my flock and I am tired of spending more money on medications and supplements that are not working.

I am at my witts end and am to the point of shipping a hen off to a lab and letting them do whatever they have to (testings) to find out what is going on.

any suggestions for the best lab chicken people use?

Please email me at theoldhen at gmail.com

thanks

 

[Campine Lover]

How old are your hens? They may have stopped because they are too old. At some point, all chickens stop laying. Don't be heartless and sent a perfectly good hen (maybe not laying eggs, but...) off to be disected and tortured. Get a new good flock, maybe 6 months old if you don't want chicks, and start again. If you don't want to retire the hens that have been giving you food for the last 5+ years at your house, find good homes for them. Get a better rooster, maybe.

 

[steward]

Interesting question, hope someone can give you some help. I'd like to know what other folks do for diagnosing sickness also. i've read in
Mother Earth News about sending eggs for testing nutritional values, can't rember off hand where they sent them though.
Good luck!

 

[snaffle]

Thank you for your replies.

Age is not the problem. A couple of my hens might be 5 years old at the most. A couple were hatched last fall.

Sterile Rooster is not the problem. One rooster might be 5, the other 2 were hatched last fall.

Incubator is not the problem. Doesnt matter if the eggs are under a hen or in the incubator. No chicks develop. For a couple of years, I would have a few chicks hatch that literally went belly-up and then died.

The first year I had my trio I sold over 60 chicks. The next year it was about 30, and from then on I was lucky to have 4 or 5 hatch out of 60 or more eggs put into the incubator.

I have tried medications as I said, and nothing is helping. Nothing.

I know that shipping a hen off to a lab is not the favorite choice, but I feel I have tried everything and nothing is the answer. Nothing.

I need to know what is going on with my little flock.

It would be unfair to give my few birds away. If they have some weird bacteria or virus, that would be unfair to the next person.

I can not bring in new birds. I brought in a new americauna last fall and she was less than a year old. I have had ONE egg from her.

 

[Missy821]

How frustrating!

When you say you've tried medications and things, which medications have you tried?

Instead of sending a hen to be dissected, can you take a live one to a vet? Maybe the vet could pinpoint a bacteria/parasite that you can't see by testing a fecal sample/doing a blood test.

 

[snaffle]

I dont remember the first meds I used. It was the regular stuff that the farm supply stores carry.
I also gave duramycin-10 which is tetracycline, oxytetracycline-343- and gallimycin.

I seriously doubt any local vets or not so local vets could really do anything. Most vets in our area are small animal or large animal. birds just dont seem to be a priority.

 

[snaffle]

I AM planning to get a fecal sample in to the clinic.

 

[snaffle]

The first medication I used was Aureomycin from Farm and Fleet for poultry.