My chickens keep dying

[JurassicBawk]

What kind of feed were you giving? Was it scratch or something with protein? And did they have access to calcium? I'm just thinking if they only got scraps and scratch maybe they were calcium depleted.

I only have 4 chickens myself, and am very attached to them. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[chickens really]

@chickens really- The most recent was laying an egg a day. She was happy and pecky. She was a black sexlink

I understand what your saying, although Layers do need a balance in nutrition to remain healthy....
I am trying to help you, not ridicule you....

Cheers!

 

[Poultry4Life]

They could very well have gone down with energy deficiency if you are not providing sufficient feed. They might also be sick with a simple sickness, maybe you should water with medicated feed.,

 

[nmorrison]

What kind of feed were you giving? Was it scratch or something with protein? And did they have access to calcium? I'm just thinking if they only got scraps and scratch maybe they were calcium depleted.

I only have 4 chickens myself, and am very attached to them. I'm sorry for your loss.

The feed they got was purine layer feed. I dont believe they were starved as they were about 7 lbs each.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

The feed they got was purine layer feed. I dont believe they were starved as they were about 7 lbs each.

Starved maybe not, but they may not have been getting what they need.

Good luck

Gary

 

[Blooie]

I'm sorry that you lost two of your chickens. I think diet is the most likely culprit here....just because they look okay doesn't mean they're are okay. Malnutrition isn't a fast killer....it's slow and finally, when they have no more reserves, they just can't do another day. There's a difference between chickens that are just surviving from one day to the next and those that are thriving. Chickens don't always want to show any weakness to predators or flockmates - often they will scratch and peck and lay until they are totally drained, and then just give up when they are too tired to go on.

Those temperatures you gave us....30s to 50s.....it would sure be helpful to know your general location because I don't see that there would be that much life sustaining forage yet if it's still that cool. All chickens need some kind of balanced nutrition, and a food formulated for them is ideal. The rest - the scraps and the foraging - are supplemental and the shorter days of summer limit how much foraging they can actually do on limited resources. Giving them food "about every other day" isn't exactly a feeding routine.

Are they getting supplemental calcium in the form of oyster shell or something if they aren't getting layer food daily? And if they are getting a lot of table scraps, what about access to grit? Chickens do get grit into their systems when they are foraging, but again if the amount of scraps and forage aren't balanced, the food in the crop isn't being ground up correctly for digestion.

It's human nature to look for a hidden culprit - a disease or an environmental catastrophe - to explain sudden deaths in our chickens. But the first thing to do is look for the simple and the obvious and try to correct that to see if it makes a difference. I don't think medicated food is going to be the answer here. I think at this point any good food fed daily could make a difference. Be forewarned, it might not make a difference overnight - if the issue is poor nutrition then it will take their little bodies time to rebuild. I wish you all the best the luck with them....as has been said, we aren't trying to be critical but we are trying to help.

 

[chickens really]

You asked for help and experienced Chicken people have replied....I have no other answers for you....Best of luck....


Cheers!!

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Hello and

I'm very sorry for hear about your chickies.

While it is possible to have deficiencies....if that was the case they would likely have stopped laying early on if they were lacking calcium or maybe shown prolapsing. Sudden deaths of 2 birds in a short amount of time sounds like an illness or poisoning etc.

What breed of chicken are they?

*(Oh gosh...never mind, I see you mentioned it's a black sex link.)

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Oh...I just read what Blooie read...

She makes good points.
But I can't see you're setup and such and don't want to jump to conclusions of deficiencies.

(You already posted the answers to my questions so I omitted my questions. I apologize for not missing your info.)

 

[Blooie]

Oh...I just read what Blooie read...

She makes good points. Chickens should be fed everyday unless you have a self feeder.
But I can't see you're setup and such and don't want to jump to conclusions of deficiencies. It's hard to be specific until we don't know more specific particulars.

Yeah, that's why I asked about general location....more information is always so helpful.