Moving flock to used coop in my yard, disease transmission risk?

[oakhavenmama]

Hi y’all,

Two days ago one of my New Hampshire Reds died after a lengthy chronic illness. Multiple vet visits did not determine cause of her illness. I treated for everything I could think of and she continued declining.

She lived with her sister in the back area of my property. Her sister is a healthy weight but lays soft shelled eggs, some softer than others. Again multiple vet visits could not determine cause.

In the other part of my property I have 14 hens and 3 roosters. If given the chance the roosters would kill each other so I keep them in separate coops and runs. In one area I alternate caging one of two roosters daily.

The area where the red hens live/d is huge compared to the other chicken areas, and the remaining red hen is presumably stressed and lonely.

I’d like to relocate a sub flock of silkies, one rooster and four hens, to the back area where the red hens have been living. And integrate the red hen to the front area with barred rocks and one bantam rooster.

My concern is spreading disease. Since the red hen appears healthy except for her soft shelled eggs, am I putting my other hens at risk by combining them?

Also is there a risk of moving the Silkies into the coop formerly used by the red hens?

By moving the sub flock to the back it would relieve considerable stress by giving the second and third roosters their own space and enabling me to separate the bigger hens from the remaining Silkies. The big hens tend to pick on the smaller Silkies.

Sorry for the lengthy explanation, and thank you so much in advance for advice and guidance.

 

[oakhavenmama]

Another option would be to move the barred rocks and one rooster to the rear area. Thanks again for any help!

 

[Ridgerunner]

That is rough, too many unknowns. It's a shame you did not get a necropsy (chicken autopsy) on that one that died. That's where they cut them open to try to determine the cause of death.

I'd suggest selecting a potentially sacrificial hen and putting it with that survivor for a month and see what happens. Basically a quarantine to see if it is anything contagious before you risk more chickens. You can move one of your groups with her if you wish, realizing they may be sacrificial. I would not move her to your main flock until I had some confidence she is not contagious.

 

[oakhavenmama]

That is rough, too many unknowns. It's a shame you did not get a necropsy (chicken autopsy) on that one that died. That's where they cut them open to try to determine the cause of death.

I'd suggest selecting a potentially sacrificial hen and putting it with that survivor for a month and see what happens. Basically a quarantine to see if it is anything contagious before you risk more chickens. You can move one of your groups with her if you wish, realizing they may be sacrificial. I would not move her to your main flock until I had some confidence she is not contagious.

Thank you for sharing your great idea. I have a large hen who hasn’t laid in a while and had thought about putting her out there. Then I could add the other big hens and a rooster one by one.

I too thought about a necropsy but am overloaded.

Thanks again!