My chickens are dying.....Please help!

[MrsBachbach]

I agree with the above. Those on the bottom of the pecking order will avoid the feed station simply because they will be pecked by the more dominant birds. They may sneak a bite now and then but mostly they will look for spilled feed on the ground, which causes it's own problems. Moldy feed, parasites, etc. More feeders or stations is helpful in this type of situation. Also, some may just not have adjusted from free range diet to confined diet. I don't know if it happens in chickens (although some of mine seem to be this way when confined with nothing but layer feed to eat), but I was told by my vet that parrots will starve themselves if you try to abruptly change their diets. They simply won't eat if they don't like it.
Mareks can also cause internal tumors and weight loss and death. So there is that angle also.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I forget if you can eat the eggs while worming them or not and how long if you cant?

This is one of those questions to which the answer is, "It depends". The first thing to consider is what medication is used as different drugs will have different withdrawal periods. The second issue is whether you are selling eggs or if they are only for your own consumption. That second one is something to consider because many people do not refrain from consuming eggs after treating their flock as they are okay with assuming the risk involved -- different drugs work in the bird in different ways and that influences how much or how little pass through to the eggs there is a chance to encounter.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

OP - if you have not done so with the previous birds lost a necropsy would be my suggestion if you suffer another loss. Even when you are not experienced and well versed in anatomy and normal conditions you can often still spot things that are not right (ie finding lots of free fluid in the body cavity, finding internal growths, finding a digestive tract that is empty) - if you are not comfortable doing it yourself you can send the bird(s) off to have it done (which may be more beneficial as they can also run tests on tissues vs. just doing a visual inspection of systems). If you share your location we can provide you the information on sending your bird(s) off.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Mmm ok, how often do you need to deworm? I have 23 hens ranging from the age of one month to almost eight months and i have yet to deworm any of them. The only ones that arent with the older birds free ranging are the one month olds.

 

[Joecool1994]

Are your birds free ranged or contained? The amount of forage available to the birds is key in the expected feed consumption. Additionally, excessive amounts of other food stuffs offered may cut the consumption but can also have a serious negative impact on the health of the birds. Bread, fruits, veggies and cracked corn are all very low in protein and protein is a key component in maintaining a healthy flock. Treats are all well and good, but when they become the primary component of a bird's diet vs. a supplement to it you start to create imbalances that can have serious short and long term implications.

Mine are contained, although here lately we let them out for a couple hours so they can hunt for worms/eat the grass in the yard at night until they are ready to go back in to the coop. They aren't bad, they are super active, although they have slowed way down on laying, we may get 1-3 eggs per day anymore. They are 2 1/2 years old though so I guess I expect that. I really should cut it back down as they honestly play with their food we buy from the mill. They sometimes put their beak in the feeder and fling it out and onto the ground. I prefer to just buy them grapes more than bread since bread is more of a filler.

@JesusFreak101 We have scratch as well although that's more of a specialty for them, and same, mine will leave the corn since it's the main part of their diet lol.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Lol mine seem to only like corn on the cob i think they may be slightly snobs lol either that are spoiled.

 

[Joecool1994]

Lol mine seem to only like corn on the cob i think they may be slightly snobs lol either that are spoiled.

LOL ours attack the cob when we throw some out for them. Sometimes we throw some random things down and they don't even bother, we have one that will follow me until I throw something better down that she knows that she likes and if I don't, she will just watch me the entire way back to the house and then slowly eat the snacks as I look out the window. Spoiled is definitely the right word.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Lol i have a deleware named Adella and a leghorn that will try and come inside the house the follow me up the stairs or try to come through the windows. Lol their my little stalkers.

 

[Princefarms12]

Right now They are contained in the coop. I have one feed station that I always have feed in, and I just put another watering container in the coop in which the two chickens I have with pale combs started drinking alot of water. I also noticed that one of the hens was trying to keep them away from the water.

I went and bought a bag of scratch and I put out about a 16 oz cup of scratch for them all.

This is my first time raising chickens so I am trying my best to keep them healthy

Oh, yes the roosters we sold were going crazy trying to mate with all the hens and not giving them a break and that is why we sold them. Also one of the roosters was pecking in one of the hens. but she isn't one of the pale ones.

To be honest the hen that died an month ago we did do our own inspection on her and we didn't fine anything out of the normal. We are a hunting family so even though it was a hard to do on our own chicken it had to be done.

 

[Mygirls615]

The biggest thing I have noticed with my 6 hens, I am new as well, is they operate in a pack like manner. One eats they all want to eat, one drinks they all want to drink. My 6 hens have 2 waterers that I have to fill daily and one giant hanging feeder and honestly I watch and it barely fits the 6 around it and one will get pecked out but she will walk around other side. So maybe with many more hens then me, I am thinking several feeders and waterers.....just a thought. I go thru almost 50 lbs of feed a month with my 6 besides free ranging, veggies, fruits and scratch. I am getting 4 - 5 eggs a day on average and they started laying Aug 26th.