Lost 3 girls in the last month.

[bubbazmommy]

1) What type of bird , age and weight. 1 black giant, 1 EE, 1 RIR
2) What is the behavior, exactly. They acted normal.
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. Nope
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. They appeared normal and then found them dead in the coop. We have added a rooster recently. (He is perfectly healthy)
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Grower pellet, sunflower seed, corn, water, plus they free range.
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal.
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? None. We did thoroughly clean the coop from top to bottom and use DE.
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Advice needed as we are worried about the other girls.
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use They have a chicken "castle" and we use pine shavings predominantly. We do use hay in the run and in the nesting boxes.

 

[Renee]

Gee, what a mystery!
If you lose another bird, I would seriously consider getting a necropsy done. Sometimes your state veterinarian will do it for free.

It's possible they are eating something that is poisoning them or giving them botulism. Do you have a pond? Sometimes rotting pond vegetation develops botulism and other anaerobic bacteria. A compost pile can also be the culprit.

Sorry about the loss of your birds, and good luck with your mystery.

 

[bubbazmommy]

I have not lost any additional birds and they all seem to be doing really well. The only issue is now I am only getting 5 or 6 eggs a day from 12 girls. ???? If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

I did pur gravel in their run b/c it was turning into a swamp with all of the snow melt. Could that cause them to slow down laying?

 

[Renee]

I don't think gravel would do that. Do they still have access to grit? Have you considered the possibility of worms?

Have you checked all of them for lice and mites?

Sorry, that's all I can think of.

 

[bubbazmommy]

I have checked for lice and mites and have dusted w/ DE just in case. I have looked for worms but have not seen any!?!?

Thanks for answering me Renee.

 

[Renee]

My pleasure.

Hey, have they started to molt? I hear that chickens slow down on egg-laying when they begin to molt.

Some people worm their chickens as a preventative measure. I have been reluctant to do that, since the wormers that work well are hard on the chicken's health, and you can't eat the eggs, at least for a while.

I'm going to try to learn how to do my own fecal floats to look for worm ova.

Another possibility: the hens are adjusting to the new rooster, and he's giving them some stress.

Good luck.

 

[Judy]

A test for worms (fecal float) by the vet is not expensive. I would do it to rule out the possibility. (I would not treat for worms without knowing whether they are present, and what kind, and what to use.) If you are sure they are not full of mites or lice, I would think this is the next thing to check for.

Of course it could just be that it was their time, for various reasons.... which has no doubt already occurred to you....

Only other thing I can think of is to talk to the people who you got the roo from, on the chance they have had problems.

 

[Judy]

Both the change in environment and worms could cause reduced egg output.

Along with a bunch of other stuff, of course.

 

[bubbazmommy]

The people I got the roo from have not had problems and actually hatch all of their own birds. They don't bring outside birds into their flock so......i think i am pretty safe where that goes.


Thanks for the input guys.