Molting + Respiratory = No Eggs Question

Hubbyofbirdlady

Songster
6 Years
Jan 3, 2017
35
66
119
Southern Iowa (Lamoni)
My Coop
My Coop
Okay it has been about 2 months now here in Iowa that my chickens got respiratory problems with the gurgling etc. I lost two because of it. But with the cyan pepper and vitamins in water and actually help pulling Bergers from their beaks and putting a Vicks like oil on them to help them breath, the rest are getting better but still have symptoms.

My Aunt Bee though a Plymouth Rock, is losing her feathers for past three weeks now. I thought at first maybe molting but makes no sense to me that it would be happening in fall instead of spring. Anyway;

With all of that said none of my chickens have laid any eggs now for two months now. My second year with chickens so I know they slow down in winter months, but not quit all together.

What say you all?
 
Chickens molt around the age of 18 months the first time and once a year thereafter, so it doesn’t matter what time of year it is when they molt. Some chickens may start a molt at any time due to any sudden stress.

Chickens need around 12 hours of light each day to lay normally though the winter. Some use a lightbulb set on a timer for a few hours starting about 5 in the morning to achieve that, while others prefer to let them take a break. During molting and during very cold weather they will quit laying as well. Chickens in their first year of laying usually will lay through the first winter, no matter the decrease in light.

The respiratory disease that you describe which could be infectious bronchitis, MG, coryza, or ILT, will probably make your whole flock carriers from now on. So if you add or hatch birds in the future, they will most likely get exposed. You can get some testing of a couple of sick birds to find out what disease you are dealing with.
 
Chickens molt around the age of 18 months the first time and once a year thereafter, so it doesn’t matter what time of year it is when they molt. Some chickens may start a molt at any time due to any sudden stress.

Chickens need around 12 hours of light each day to lay normally though the winter. Some use a lightbulb set on a timer for a few hours starting about 5 in the morning to achieve that, while others prefer to let them take a break. During molting and during very cold weather they will quit laying as well. Chickens in their first year of laying usually will lay through the first winter, no matter the decrease in light.

The respiratory disease that you describe which could be infectious bronchitis, MG, coryza, or ILT, will probably make your whole flock carriers from now on. So if you add or hatch birds in the future, they will most likely get exposed. You can get some testing of a couple of sick birds to find out what disease you are dealing with.

thank you eggcessive, no money to take any birds to the vet so that is why I am asking on here. However, yes my birds are about 18 and 19 months old. so that helps with the molting info. after researching all three of those I would say it is more like ILT, and MG if not both :(
 
Would you say I should start over? and if I did would it be okay to process these birds? or just dispatch them? I know a lot of folks here say no let them live but I need healthy chickens and their coop is very nice and run the same, and I cannot afford more than 7 birds to the size of my coop and so the ones I have should be producing.
 
The way I would deal with a chronic illness, is that I would close my flock to new birds, and start over after they have all died off. But, if you don’t mind dispatching them or butchering those that are not presently ill, that would be the best thing to do in your case. Do you have any idea how they became ill in the first place? For instance, did you get them from a breeder or a poultry sale, or did you get them as baby chicks from a feed store or hatchery? Wild birds or neighboring chickens can expose chickens to diseases, and we can also carry them in on our shoes, hands, and clothing if we have visited poultry shows, swaps, or even, farm stores. If you want to get a diagnosis of what disease(s) they have, you could get a necropsy done by your state vet on one or two sick birds. Respiratory diseases can show up in multiples, as secondary infections.
 
The way I would deal with a chronic illness, is that I would close my flock to new birds, and start over after they have all died off. But, if you don’t mind dispatching them or butchering those that are not presently ill, that would be the best thing to do in your case. Do you have any idea how they became ill in the first place? For instance, did you get them from a breeder or a poultry sale, or did you get them as baby chicks from a feed store or hatchery? Wild birds or neighboring chickens can expose chickens to diseases, and we can also carry them in on our shoes, hands, and clothing if we have visited poultry shows, swaps, or even, farm stores. If you want to get a diagnosis of what disease(s) they have, you could get a necropsy done by your state vet on one or two sick birds. Respiratory diseases can show up in multiples, as secondary infections.
They share space with quail which are all healthy. they dont mix with each other the quail cage is inside the coop itself.
 

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