Lost 3 chickens in 30 days

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flamingoqueen

flamingoqueen

In the Brooder
5 Years
May 6, 2014
27
0
22
Hi everyone. I am new to this forum. My daughter is in 4H and she bought a light dAnver cockerel from her friend to hopefully start a breeding project with her female hen dAnver. About 2 weeks after we got the cockerel my daughter went to the coop (which by the way our smaller birds (total of 5 including the cockerel) are in a totally separate coop and run than our larger breed of chickens, the cockerel was dead in the coop. No signs of any injuries. My daughter informed the little girl she purchased the bird from and the girl states that "oh I had a hen that was with this cockerel that died a few weeks ago. I of course panic and totally clean the coop and sterilize everything. Than about 2 weeks to 10 days after the cockerel dies, I lose a rooster that is NOT located in this particular coop. Again no signs of injury. 1 week later my last and largest rooster sounds like he is sick so I give him 3 days of Tylan medication segregate him and now he is fine and back with his hens in the larger coop that started on Thursday and he was released the following Monday (so 2 days ago). Today in my smaller coop where we lost the cockerel, we found our beloved little d'Anver self blue hen dead. No signs of injury accept there seemed to be some blood on her feathers near her vent (wondered if that was because the other 3 hens picked at her). I am so worried I am going to lose the rest of my flock. Anyone have any ideas if this is some disease or just pure bad luck? My daughter is just so upset. This hen was her showmanship chicken. We also have some baby chicks that are about ready to go into the coop but we are super nervous about placing them in the coops at this point. We just love our chickens.
 
flamingoqueen said:
Hi everyone. I am new to this forum. My daughter is in 4H and she bought a light dAnver cockerel from her friend to hopefully start a breeding project with her female hen dAnver. About 2 weeks after we got the cockerel my daughter went to the coop (which by the way our smaller birds (total of 5 including the cockerel) are in a totally separate coop and run than our larger breed of chickens, the cockerel was dead in the coop. No signs of any injuries. My daughter informed the little girl she purchased the bird from and the girl states that "oh I had a hen that was with this cockerel that died a few weeks ago. I of course panic and totally clean the coop and sterilize everything. Than about 2 weeks to 10 days after the cockerel dies, I lose a rooster that is NOT located in this particular coop. Again no signs of injury. 1 week later my last and largest rooster sounds like he is sick so I give him 3 days of Tylan medication segregate him and now he is fine and back with his hens in the larger coop that started on Thursday and he was released the following Monday (so 2 days ago). Today in my smaller coop where we lost the cockerel, we found our beloved little d'Anver self blue hen dead. No signs of injury accept there seemed to be some blood on her feathers near her vent (wondered if that was because the other 3 hens picked at her). I am so worried I am going to lose the rest of my flock. Anyone have any ideas if this is some disease or just pure bad luck? My daughter is just so upset. This hen was her showmanship chicken. We also have some baby chicks that are about ready to go into the coop but we are super nervous about placing them in the coops at this point. We just love our chickens.
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Oh no! I am so sorry for your daughter's loss!
Very odd. You think you could have a varmint? Maybe a weasel? They can get thru a space as tiny as a 1/2 dollar. They kill for sport and often don't eat their prey. They often line up heir prey in a row, but you only had one bird at a time so they didn't have prey to do that. Hum. I would take this over to the predator thread and see what falls out of the tree. Seems like you would have seen more symptoms if it was an illness. Do you have a friend who hunts who will loan you a trail camera ? If so, you could place it to view the coop and see what you can snapshot. A weasel would have killed all the birds in a coop so if only one died and others survived, hum...

Best,
Karen in western PA
 
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flamingoqueen said:
Hi everyone.  I am new to this forum.  My daughter is in 4H and she bought a light dAnver cockerel from her friend to hopefully start a breeding project with her female hen dAnver.  About 2 weeks after we got the cockerel my daughter went to the coop (which by the way our smaller birds (total of 5 including the cockerel) are in a totally separate coop and run than our larger breed of chickens, the cockerel was dead in the coop.  No signs of any injuries.  My daughter informed the little girl she purchased the bird from and the girl states that "oh I had a hen that was with this cockerel that died a few weeks ago.  I of course panic and totally clean the coop and sterilize everything.  Than about 2 weeks to 10 days after the cockerel dies, I lose a rooster that is NOT located in this particular coop.  Again no signs of injury.  1 week later my last and largest rooster sounds like he is sick so I give him 3 days of Tylan medication segregate him and now he is fine and back with his hens in the larger coop that started on Thursday and he was released the following Monday (so 2 days ago).  Today in my smaller coop where we lost the cockerel, we found our beloved little d'Anver self blue hen dead.  No signs of injury accept there seemed to be some blood on her feathers near her vent (wondered if that was because the other 3 hens picked at her).  I am so worried I am going to lose the rest of my flock.  Anyone have any ideas if this is some disease or just pure bad luck?  My daughter is just so upset.  This hen was her showmanship chicken.  We also have some baby chicks that are about ready to go into the coop but we are super nervous about placing them in the coops at this point.  We just love our chickens.
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Hello and :welcome! I'm so sorry for your loss. I don't believe it's a weasel/mink as they kill all and pile them up. I learned that the first time I ever had chickens before I new what hardware cloth was. I would post in the https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures, and explain what is going on. I'm positive someone there can help you out. We welcome you to our flock but so sorry it's under these circumstances, :hugs
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
frow.gif


I am so sorry for your losses.
hugs.gif
I have no idea why your birds have been dying. Basskids has left you with the link to the emergency section. I would post this question there for more input. But the next time you lose one, I would immediately put this bird in a plastic bag and in the frig, (not freezer) and make an appointment with your vet for a necropsy. This maybe the only way you will figure out what is going on in your flock.

I would also practice some serious bio security and change your shoes between flocks and coops, wash your hands after touching birds in these coops and clean out these coops well where birds have died. Change all bedding, use a 10% solution of amonia in water and scrub everything down, etc..

I hope things start to improve for you soon.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about the loss of your birds. You've gotten some good advice above. X3 on posting in the Emergencies section, and if you still have your d'Anver hen you lost today you might consider sending her off for a necropsy.
 
flamingoqueen said:
Hi everyone. I am new to this forum. My daughter is in 4H and she bought a light dAnver cockerel from her friend to hopefully start a breeding project with her female hen dAnver. About 2 weeks after we got the cockerel my daughter went to the coop (which by the way our smaller birds (total of 5 including the cockerel) are in a totally separate coop and run than our larger breed of chickens, the cockerel was dead in the coop. No signs of any injuries. My daughter informed the little girl she purchased the bird from and the girl states that "oh I had a hen that was with this cockerel that died a few weeks ago. I of course panic and totally clean the coop and sterilize everything. Than about 2 weeks to 10 days after the cockerel dies, I lose a rooster that is NOT located in this particular coop. Again no signs of injury. 1 week later my last and largest rooster sounds like he is sick so I give him 3 days of Tylan medication segregate him and now he is fine and back with his hens in the larger coop that started on Thursday and he was released the following Monday (so 2 days ago). Today in my smaller coop where we lost the cockerel, we found our beloved little d'Anver self blue hen dead. No signs of injury accept there seemed to be some blood on her feathers near her vent (wondered if that was because the other 3 hens picked at her). I am so worried I am going to lose the rest of my flock. Anyone have any ideas if this is some disease or just pure bad luck? My daughter is just so upset. This hen was her showmanship chicken. We also have some baby chicks that are about ready to go into the coop but we are super nervous about placing them in the coops at this point. We just love our chickens.
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Alright
welcome-byc.gif



Wow horrible lesion to learn about bringing in a new chicken to the flock but X 4 on posting in the Emergency's Trend
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I would up the protein intake to the entire flock and do some real cleaning of the entire and all coops and runs including water and feed dishes .....
 
Thank you to all for your feedback on this issue. I cleaned out the coop today and the remaining 3 birds look good. Than about 4 hours later I checked on them and one of them was off in a corner by herself. I picked her up and her vent had blood and some white stuff coming out of it. I went online and read about egg bound. Both this pullet and the dAnver pullet had not yet laid any eggs. I felt the pullet (a little old english self blue) and I can feel the egg. Poor thing. I am thinking that is how the dAnver died yesterday because she had some blood on her vent area. I now have my daughters little old english downstairs in a pen in the house. I followed directions online and soaked her in warm water for 20 minutes, than dried her and put some petrolium jelly on her vent and let her be for 20 minutes than started to massage her under carriage. I have done this two times and she has still not laid that egg. I hope I am doing this right. The internet said to repeat this procedure every hour so it looks like a long night for me. I almost feel like a birthing coach. Ugh. I hope she makes it through this. Is there anything else I should be doing to help her?
 
Just gave her another warm bath and pulled a soft shell out of her vent. I can still feel something hard in there and she is clearly in distress.
 

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