- Jan 17, 2012
- 52
- 15
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I have 20 hens. Breeds are Turkens, Black Austrolorps, Production Reds, Egyptian Fayoumi, Gold Campine, Silver Dorking, Gold Sebright, Buff Cochin, Partridge Cochin bantam, Silver-laced Polish, Barred Rock, and a gorgeous Hamburg rooster. Last fall I lost two of my Turkens, and this spring I have lost three over a two month period. I have been letting them free range; they have plenty of food, water and grit/oyster mix. All the other flock is perfectly healthy. As a matter of fact, the Polish, partridge cochin and Sebright are almost ten years old! And the turkens were only about three years old. I just have found this very odd and I was wondering if anyone has had problems with Turkens being problematic. I had them vaccinated for Mareck's disease as chicks and I fed them medicated feed as chicks to prevent coccidiosis. Any ideas? I was actually in the coop last week watching one of my chickens laying an egg, and I heard a pop in the next box over. I thought my buff Turken was laying an egg. So I watched her, then she started acting like she was chocking, then she left her nest and fluttered to the ground and started having an epileptic fit, flopping and flipping all over. Then she would right herself and start it all again. It was pretty sad to see and I knew there was nothing I could do for her. Then she had one more flipping fit and then she closed her eyes and was dead. This happened in the space of about two minutes. One minute she seemed healthy and the next minute she was dead! So does anyone have any ideas as to what happened? Thx. Coop has been clean and they have been out all day free-ranging. We live on 20 acres. Of course they do not wander that far but we do have wild turkey and sand hill cranes on it. Also tons of wild birds, especially this spring.
