- Mar 31, 2013
- 2
- 0
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First off, let me say that I know nothing about raising chickens other than that is where eggs and Sunday Chicken dinner comes from. I did grow up on a farm and we raised dairy cattle and hogs. Supposedly when I was little we had a whole hen house full of hens but I don't remember them.
Anyway, long story, we live on an acreage and my girls are getting involved in 4H. Last year they were given 2 chickens at the county fair that we took home. Thought one was a hen and one a rooster but alas they both turned out to be roosters. One rooster went bye bye back in December and the other rooster is still in his 5x5x5 coop and hopefully slated to become dinner this month. Well the local farm store had their chick days and the girls wanted chicks so we went to town and brought 4 golden pullet chicks home the 5th of March, put them in a nice box with a heat lamp, feeder, waterer, medicated feed and mixed up a small dose of electrolytes. They are in a seperate room on the opposite end of the building where the rooster is (just happens to be a 40x90 insulated metal and wood hen house built back in the 1950's and still has a small room that used to be the egg cooler) A week goes by and everything is going great, chicks are running around their box, starting to feather eating and drinking great, I am supervising the chores and teaching the girls to make sure they have plenty of feed and fresh water etc. The end of that week I am gone on a Thursday night, the girls do chores and by Saturday the chicks are lethargic and no energy. We loose one on Sunday and I am racking my brain about what is going on. Sunday afternoon I go out and decided we are going to re clean the box, dump the feed and replace the water. I did this and when I put the new fresh water in, the 3 remaining start drinking like crazy. One seems better than the rest, one worse then the others and one kind of in between the 2. That night we loose the worse one. Did a little questioning and asked my oldest (she's 10) how much electrolytes did you put in the water. She told me a whole teaspoon in a quart of water like the gal at the farm store said. No honey, she said a teaspoon in a gallon of water.... So wife and I figure the 2 died of either toxicity from to much electrolytes or dehydration. Skip ahead to this last weekend. 2 remaining chicks are feathering and growing and so Friday we decide to put them in a little bigger box so that we can put 4 smaller chicks in that box that we were going to get from a hatchery. Saturday 1 chick is lethargic and won't really stand up and was breathing heavy and Sunday it is laying on its left side with its neck craned around to the left and back and you could tell it had been going around in circles as all of the wood shavings were scattered against the sides and corners. I put it in a different box and tried giving it some water and food but it wasn't interested. Would just flap and try and stand up but go around in circles. It died last night. To me it acted like it was paralysed. I have been doing some research and it almost sounds like it could have had mareks. Is it possible that rooster is a carrier? We really have no contact with it, I just put feed and water in its coop which involves opening the door, reaching in and dumping the feed or water in and closing the door. I now concerned about the 4 new ones we have and was contemplating getting 4 more but don't know if I should or not. What else could it be?
Thanks for you help and staying with me this long.
Wil
Anyway, long story, we live on an acreage and my girls are getting involved in 4H. Last year they were given 2 chickens at the county fair that we took home. Thought one was a hen and one a rooster but alas they both turned out to be roosters. One rooster went bye bye back in December and the other rooster is still in his 5x5x5 coop and hopefully slated to become dinner this month. Well the local farm store had their chick days and the girls wanted chicks so we went to town and brought 4 golden pullet chicks home the 5th of March, put them in a nice box with a heat lamp, feeder, waterer, medicated feed and mixed up a small dose of electrolytes. They are in a seperate room on the opposite end of the building where the rooster is (just happens to be a 40x90 insulated metal and wood hen house built back in the 1950's and still has a small room that used to be the egg cooler) A week goes by and everything is going great, chicks are running around their box, starting to feather eating and drinking great, I am supervising the chores and teaching the girls to make sure they have plenty of feed and fresh water etc. The end of that week I am gone on a Thursday night, the girls do chores and by Saturday the chicks are lethargic and no energy. We loose one on Sunday and I am racking my brain about what is going on. Sunday afternoon I go out and decided we are going to re clean the box, dump the feed and replace the water. I did this and when I put the new fresh water in, the 3 remaining start drinking like crazy. One seems better than the rest, one worse then the others and one kind of in between the 2. That night we loose the worse one. Did a little questioning and asked my oldest (she's 10) how much electrolytes did you put in the water. She told me a whole teaspoon in a quart of water like the gal at the farm store said. No honey, she said a teaspoon in a gallon of water.... So wife and I figure the 2 died of either toxicity from to much electrolytes or dehydration. Skip ahead to this last weekend. 2 remaining chicks are feathering and growing and so Friday we decide to put them in a little bigger box so that we can put 4 smaller chicks in that box that we were going to get from a hatchery. Saturday 1 chick is lethargic and won't really stand up and was breathing heavy and Sunday it is laying on its left side with its neck craned around to the left and back and you could tell it had been going around in circles as all of the wood shavings were scattered against the sides and corners. I put it in a different box and tried giving it some water and food but it wasn't interested. Would just flap and try and stand up but go around in circles. It died last night. To me it acted like it was paralysed. I have been doing some research and it almost sounds like it could have had mareks. Is it possible that rooster is a carrier? We really have no contact with it, I just put feed and water in its coop which involves opening the door, reaching in and dumping the feed or water in and closing the door. I now concerned about the 4 new ones we have and was contemplating getting 4 more but don't know if I should or not. What else could it be?
Thanks for you help and staying with me this long.
Wil
