Lost my silver wyandotte Millie

Kim95037

Songster
11 Years
May 27, 2012
469
83
206
Morgan Hill California
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My poor silver wyandottes tail got all droopy and she was looking pretty down. I didnt notice how much weight she had lost until I picked her up again, holy cow! So I took her to the vet and she ended up passing away, (after spending almost 600 bucks). At first we thought she was going to make it and then at the last minute she just suddenly gave up. Anyway, it turns out the poor thing had a very super soft bone structure, she had a broken back and a brokent pelvis. I was horrified, but she didnt seem to act like she was in a whole lot of pain. The vet said she either had a severe nutritional defeciency or a major thyroid problem. Im not sure how she got injured, its quite possible my little aussie might have run into her chasing the frisbee, these guys are pretty protected in a nice big chicken run all day and then outside in a completely fenced in yard when I get home from work.
My other chickens are pretty skinny too, except for Annie my buff orpington. Im going to change their diet from the mixture they are eating now to a straight mash with some calf manna mixed in. Has anyone ever experienced this before???
Thanks
 
No. This is a new one on me. What mix were you feeding prior to this discovery?
 
So sorry for the loss of your chicken. Looks like you need to reevaluate your entire set up including facilities and feed.

What exactly are you feeding? Do you birds get any natural sunlight? Are they exposed to any type of pesticides/toxins/heavy metal?
 
They get lots of sunlight, they have a nice big run, maybe I should take one of the covers off so they get more sun exposure.They get a lot of free range time as well. I dont think they are being exposed to anything toxic, the autopsy was pretty thorough, it was done by the state, they checked for lead and just about every other toxin. Im currently changing their feed, I was using a mix, which had layer crumble and corn and a mixture of grains. I changed it to Purina Layena (I was hoping to find some Dumor) with some calf manna. These guys also get lots of extras, like watermelon, meal worms, yogurt and apples. My other chickens except for my orpington are pretty thin too tho, so Im wondering if the current feed I was giving them was really lacking in something. Theres no exposure to pesticides that I know of, I dont use weed killer or anything else since I got my chickens. I have Clark pest control come out once a month, I may put the stop on that, since Im seeing a ton of spiders around here anyway. They just spray around the perimeter of the house. I wonder are chickens susceptible to spider bites? I know I have black widows and I did find one in my coop a while back.
Heres the ingredients for the feed I was giving them, I just went and looked at the tag.
Corn, wheat, milot oats, barley, safflower sunflower, peas, soybean meal and oyster shell flour. Im going to do some research on gorilla hair, most of it is gone now, but it was what I used for ground cover originally. Thanks guys for all of your imput and responses.
 

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