I'm About To Give Up My Flock!

[pattgal]

bad batch?? play it safe and don't buy from the same breeder
personally I would start fresh. and like the previous person said maybe give it a rest to rid the coop of its bad JuJu
Chickens are supposed to be low maintenance. I have a hatchet in the coop just to remind them that we don't feed freeloaders. and ive debated posting up recipes along side of it.

most ppl treat them like pets though

 

[featherz]

I think you might be working too hard.

Worst case, start over.. Maybe poor genetics in that batch? ....

I've only had chickens a year and (knock on wood) have only lost one to internal laying (and she had problems from the start) and have more eggs than I know what to do with.. And I do deep litter and just cleaned my coop out for spring after four months of just adding new shavings and fluffing it up..

If I had to clean daily, I wouldn't be able to have chickens!

I didn't even heat the coops for winter.

I just throw the oyster shell in a few times a week since I feed layer feed and have had no problems with soft shells. I give no special vitamins and the only treats I have are large 50# bags of BOSS/Cracked corn that I throw out when I want them to get back in the pen. They also get household scraps and the occasional eggs along with their regular layer feed + some free range time when we aren't buried in snow..

I spent about $75 in a drawer full of 'just in case' meds like antibiotics, blucote, corid and a wormer, but that's all for meds.

Maybe you just need some heartier stock!

 

[chickbliss7]

Wow, thanks folks for all the good advice! I think what this means is that I'm being overprotective, not only of my chickens' health, but my own (I have asthma, so when the dust builds up in the coop, I start wheezing). I got all the chicks as babies from a feed store, and perhaps that was a bad idea. I also get my feed from the same store, which I've always assumed was good for them. In addition to their organic crumble, I feed them a bit of scratch every day, meal worms because they absolutely LOVE them, sometimes some fruit, greens from our garden, some plain yogurt with good bacilli, but nothing greasy or sweets. Lately, they've been feasting on slugs because we've had relentless rain, and will eat any other bugs that come their way.

It's strange that all their problems are different. The sick one now, I think, has respiratory problems, which is not surprising given the wet weather. Out of 6, I have maybe 3 that are healthy--so far. I lost one (the 7th) at the beginning, and 3 others that are always sick. I have a problem knowing when to put animals to sleep, and they definitely are my pets, not livestock, so that makes that decision more difficult. Even though I clean every day, I don't ever clean out the whole coop and runs. What I do is every day, clean the roosts with organic cleaner, pick up all the poop from the night before, wood shavings in the coop, straw in the runs. I'm sure there's mold in the runs because moisture gets in, but it does have a roof; a wire fence otherwise. I also dust all the windows and surfaces, to get rid of dust in the air.

If I knew how to attach a photo here, I'd show you a picture! Thanks for your advice--I knew it wasn't right that chickens were this much work!

 

[MrsChickendad]

Quote:
I'd bet that is where part of your problem lies. Mold.

Also, check around, under feeders and waterers. We lost a couple birds to botulism after they ate food that had been spilled where we couldn't see it and gotten moldy. It was in an out-of-the-way place, but the birds found it. Nasty stuff.

Incidentally, if they eat a lot of slugs and earthworms, they often get gapeworm. They will stretch out their necks and sort of honk or squeak from the worms in their throat. You use 5 drops of Ivermectin for Cattle/Swine on the skin and it will take care of internal and external parasites.

 

[The Kibble Goddess]

If it wasn't working out so well, I'd be embarassed to admit that I've had chickens for about a year.. They've been in the coop since last May? June? and I've NEVER cleaned it out. I put about 6" of shavings on the floor and just stir it up every few days. Bottom is still dry, poops dehydrate, though there are a lot of them now. When the bad sand gnats are gone in about a month I do plan to rake it out. Thought of replacing the shavings w/sand, but this is working out well. There's ventilation all around the top of the coop, but no windows. I do scrape the roost once a week. I don't have the feeders or the waterer in the coop, which probably helps keep it clean. I wouldn't put straw or hay in the run because of mold and impacted crops, but I do toss in a lot of oak leaves in the fall/winter. Those babies take forever to breakdown even with the chickens helping and they don't absorb water. Lots of fresh air, sunshine & keep it dry. OP sounds like she's up North where winters would make this difficult. Good luck.

 

[wingsofglory]

I'm curious what kinds the sick ones are???

I had a six month old Comet that ate so many rocks over two days that her crop was dragging on the ground. What's worse, she was teaching the others to eat rocks! She was digging a hole and making that "yum Good!" sound so the other hens were starting to eat the rocks too. I decided she was crazy and culled her. Sad, but a shrink wasn't an option. For her, or me!

There was a thread recently asking if other people's Rhode Island Reds and sex-link crosses were having too many problems with egg laying problems. Good thread to check if any of yours have Rhode Island Red in them. Would be black sexlinks, red sexlinks, gold sexlinks, brown sexlinks, Comets, Production Reds, and all the other names for the crosses.

Another thing to check besides mold, if ongoing mysterious health problems, is polluted well water, or polluted community water.

Toxins and low level radioactivity stress the body and cause whatever the weak point of the body is to develop problems. It is not straight across symptom=disease.

I also had a turkey poult from a hatchery right from hour one have the most stinky poop - it drove people from the room! I had the twelve turkey babies together and couldn't figure out which one was doing it. I'd take one and watch for awhile, but got distracted and never made it through testing all 12 . I thought it was something it would outgrow with good food - they had the best of care, free ranging on virgin wilderness land. On butchering the twelve, one turkey when opened drove everyone out of the room!!! The meat also had that horrible smell. What i"m trying to say is, the chicks can come from the hatchery with a bacteria or something they never outgrow, that weakens them.

 

[featherz]

Quote:
I do the same, so don't feel bad. I cleaned my coop in October and again now.. My chickens wade in mud puddles when it's wet and I don't dust anything or clean the roosts (they aren't visibly dirty). My coop actually looks pretty nice, believe it or not..

I think, actually, that doing deep litter may keep the dust down a bit since it's not fresh dusty shavings. No organic food locally available that I can find, so I just use good old Layena. I'm thinking OP's chickens may have a chronic respiratory illness?

Having said all that I'll probably be posting in a week or two about some horrible chicken ailment.

OP : do you have windows in your coop? do you leave them open at all? Mine are open unless it's VERY cold (well below zero) or VERY rainy..

 

[sonew123]

Im so sorry. When you clean the coop may I suggest a N-95 mask-( like a surgeon/dentists disposable one? It will help alot-I have them, the N-95 keeps out 99.07 of the air particualtes that cause asthma out of your nose and lungs. I use it when I use DE and other powdered substances and open all doors when doing it. Could it be you have used so many meds that your birds are now immune to them and they don't work. I only have treated once in my 4 years with chickens-for the sniffles. Now I let them fight it off naturally. If they look like they are going downhill -I cull. I hate it-dont enjoy it as alot of mine are pets. I am strict with that aspect- if I see one with an issue I give it time but if they don't recover in a certain time frame-I cull. It sounds rough but I'm doing what's best for my flocks. Mine free range all Summer long and they are healthy as a horses-no issues. I clean my coops 1x a week-I can't to DLM it grosses me out-as the ducks make it impossible to keep dry- ( we put them in their new pen last night

) SO now I will attempt DLM again I hope things get ebetter for you!!

 

[featherz]

Quote:
I use n-95 mask too when I clean.. And I agree, I don't think I could do deep litter with ducks.. Yuck! And I sadly culled one chicken last year - it sucks, but if they are suffering and not getting better it's the thing to do.

 

[Badbaby05]

I agree with culling, cleaning and getting new chicks but from a different source. Sounds like a bad bunch of birds from the get go. So sorry you've had to experience this trouble with your chickens.