loosing my girls

[farmerbob]

recently I had two of my Brown leghorns just up and die. there was no issues prior no strange behavior. I have been finding that my eggs have had some blood smear on them but its impossible to know which hen has been laying them. I had some fiberglass insulation tucked in an area I thought they couldn't reach but the high winds of last weekend loosended it making it fall to the floor of my coop where it became scattered among the flock. any suggestions would be appreciated,

thanks in advance


farmerbob

 

[TigerLilly]

No suggestions, but

I'm sorry you lost them.
A sad begining, but

 

[Miss Lydia]

If they ate some of the insulation that may be why your seeing some blood, but then again sometimes there can be blood on an egg so it's hard to say. You couldn't detect any other symptoms? seems chickens and most animals are very good about hiding a sickness until it's too late. Hopefully you'll be able to watch the rest just in case something else shows up. This has been an extremely hard winter on everyones flocks. Being confined because of extreme cold weather and snow can run havoc in out flocks. If you can think of anything out of the ordinary that might have lead up to this please let us know so we can better help you. What are the ages of your chickens for one. and

 

[farmerbob]

thanks for your response. The hens are not quite a year. I live in upstate NY we have alot of snow & temps have been in the single digits quite often. I have been heating the coop to take the edge off. I have aprons on some hens due to loss of back feathers (roosters are hounding them ). I introduced some diametatious earth to the coop to help with any mites. I think that may be an issue there because a couple of my roosters are missing feathers around their tail base, but I wonder if that is from their occasional spats with one another(3 roosters total). they are all eating well. even the ones that died always ate & drank. I have started adding a vitimin suppliment to the water to help strenghten the remaining birds. Egg production is still good in spite of the cold weather. anyway I got into this blind I just want to get through the winter without anymore casulties.


Thanks again


Bob

 

[Miss Lydia]

One thing I will say id diatomacous earth will not kill lice or mites if you already have them, get something like sevin dust and until you can throughly clean out your coop put the dust all over inside being sure to get it into all the cracks where the mites live and hide.. once you can clean out your coop you need to remove all bedding and then really give it a good cleaning I like to use sevin spray because I think it gets into all the crakes better and I can cover everything better too. dust all your birds being sure to get it into the feathers but not into their eyes or let the dust get in the face to inhale, there are other products you can use too, one is Ivermectin pour-on for cattle you use it like you use frontline on dogs just be sure to get it on their skin 4 drops for small and 6 for large fowl. then theres also Epernix pour-on, used the same way only no egg withdrawl from using it.. after you get the parasites killed then use the DE. I have used DE for close to 7 years now and last summer had my first mite infestation, had to bring out the big guns, still use DE too. some folks also spray Adams flea and tick on their birds but you wouldn't want to wet them in cold weather.. good luck and keep us updated on progress. also forgot to say both of these pour-ons will take care of internal parasites too.

 

[farmerbob]

many thanks, I will let you know how it goes

 

[Miss Lydia]

 

[shadow2010]

I just lost one chicken today and not sure way but my son told me the coop door was open and we had a lot of rain and wind last night.at 7am they was up and ready to go.then i went out to get the eggs and there she was past away.so i am going to say it was from last night and getting so wet and it did get cold.i will be looking out to make sure they are all ok for the rest of the day.wish you luck with your girls.

 

[Miss Lydia]

sorry to hear of your loss

, but also want to

if we haven't already.