Lord help me!!!!!!

[rooster-red]

Quote:
Just put oyster shell out in a seperate feeder, the roo's will ignore it because they don't crave it or need it.

Your chickens need grit, it will not hurt any of them, if they have access to an outside run where they can pick up small pebbles that they can pick up then you don't have to give them any extra grit.

 

[Bren1222]

Miss Prissy, I do realize what could happen and we are keeping a close eye on it. When it gets to the point that the roos want the hens we will have the second coop done for the hens. This is a temp. situation.

Sorry I should have explained that sooner.

 

[dacjohns]

I have a bunch of hens, two ducks, and two roosters. They free range during the day and go home to roost at night. Since I have the hens for eggs I feed all the chickens layer crumbles. I also give them some scratch. I have oyster shell available but they don't seem to take much. I get some pretty thin shelled eggs occasionally and have seen two eggs without shells.

OK, some of the posts seem to say don't give the roosters layer feed. How do you accomplish that? I thought oyster shell and grit are two different things. Shell for calcium and grit to work in the crop helping to grind up the food. I thought I read somewhere that if the birds are only getting processed food like mash or crumbles they don't need grit. I also thought if the chickens are outside and pecking around on the ground they will get the grit they need.

As far as the roosters all dying, I'm sorry, I don't have any ideas unless they aren't getting enough grit to help grind up the scratch. I don't see how feeding them layer feed would hurt unless it is a financial thing. I don't see how the oyster shells would hurt unless they are getting too much and overdosing on calcium or if the shells are causing internal damage from the sharp edges.

All the experts out there, help me understand.

 

[silkiechicken]

Furthermore... what kind of roo's are these? If they are meat type cornish x's... they are ready to eat now and do start to just die if they are 8 weeks old.

Other than that. I'd put them all on a grower, and give free choice oyster shell and grit. The hens will eat oyster shell when they need it.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
There are different ways to do this. All the things you stated are correct.

As for roosters not getting layer... I don't do anything special for my roos and they eat layer with the rest. It's personal choice half the time and is debatable. The "rooster friendly" option is to give a "flock" ration and just keep oyster shells on the side.

 

[Bren1222]

The Roos are the heavy breed collection that we ordered from McMurray. That is all I can really tell you.

 

[rooster-red]

Are their crops staying full and squishy?

This is going to sound funny, but... does their breath smell really bad?

 

[Ese_N_Gracie]

This doesn't seem to be a food issue....how complete was the necropsy? I have a really good book on chicken diseases. Is there any chance it could be aspergillosos. Since the little ones would be more susceptible to Asper spores. Any old hay molding will create this...it is always important to use fresh straw not hay???? Just trying to help...

 

[Bren1222]

Haven't smelled their breath. Never thought about it! HaHa! Will see if I can do that in the morning. My hubby is going to think I am crazy!

They look healthy and the vet said the one he looked at was healthy except for having all that compacted food. He did a complete necropsy. Took the poor thing all apart from what I was told. I didn't watch, had no desire to do that.

We are using pine shavings in the coop and we clean it every weekend. Is this enough?

I am hoping that the stuff we are putting in the water will help anything else that is going on.

 

[rooster-red]

Let me see if I have this right, all of the hens and roo's are kept in the same coop & run and only the roo's are dying off?

Just to clarify.