So I don’t know what’s going on. I feel like one thing keeps happening after another and I don’t know what to do. This is my first time raising chickens, I started with 17 hens. A couple of mainly white ones, a couple gold, a couple black and white, and a few Easter eggers. I think it was a bad idea to mix so many breeds? I heard that when you raise a flock a couple usually die but they were all completely fine until they’re maybe a year old.
They have plenty of room, there’s inside and outside parts of the coop, I check on them everyday, and they always have water, food, and snacks. It’s literally in the negatives here in Alaska so there’s a heat lamp inside and I’ll only let them out of the the temperature is over the negatives, but there’s a coop window too. They have a flock block to peck on and perches.
The first one was white, I went to the coop and found one dead on her back, it looked like she had a stroke. She showed no warning signs.
The next one was an Easter egger, we found her pecked down to her organs under her wing.
The other one, a black/white one I found lethargic in the coop, she didn’t look good and wasn’t interested in any food. So I brought her inside and tried to look at her but couldn’t find anything. I put her in warm water for a little then wrapped her in a towel and tried to think of what to do. She squaked and died not long after I brought her inside):
This next one I really loved. She was gold and named kitty because she purred so much. I found her lethargic and her comb was super pale, I took her inside and made her comfortable, offered her food and water but she would only eat a little and her aim wasn’t good like she couldn’t really get the food. She started seeming a little better and then worse. I was syringing her water and checking on her every couple hours for days. She kept falling over and leaning to one side but her feet were fine. She wouldn’t be able to get up by herself and and she would just flap her wings trying to move. She wouldn’t lean up and when you helped her she would just fall back down and barely keep her eyes open but she was still alive. After that we decided to put her down. I couldn’t watch her suffer like that anymore and it was just so strange. The only possible thing I could think of is meriks? But I don’t even know if chickens can get that?
So now here I am with 12 hens and I’m just afraid of losing anymore. When I went outside the other day two of the Easter eggers were missing feathers on the top of their heads like a line, as if they were wearing a headband is the best way to describe it. At first I thought the others did pecked them but it’s so weird for both of them to have it look the exact same.
The other weird thing is two of my white ones. I went out there today and saw some blood and scabbing on their feet and the others started to peck them. Of course I freak out because I don’t want another to die from getting pecked to death. So I cleaned them up and wrapped them but it’s also really weird that it’s almost the exact same on both of the white ones? and it’s on both of their feet. I don’t know how both of them would get scratched on both feet at the same time in the same place?
I’m just at a loss right now and exhausted and there’s so much information out there and I don’t know what to do to. I know with livestock comes death but I love these girls. They’re my pets and give my family their eggs. I just want them to be healthy and happy.
Anyways if you read this far thank you lol. Any help or advice would be appreciated. I feel like I’ve tried everything I could think of, bought all the stuff I could think of. Is this all from putting so many breeds together? Why/how/what could they be getting sick with? How are the breeds getting injured at the same time? How can I prevent it?
They have plenty of room, there’s inside and outside parts of the coop, I check on them everyday, and they always have water, food, and snacks. It’s literally in the negatives here in Alaska so there’s a heat lamp inside and I’ll only let them out of the the temperature is over the negatives, but there’s a coop window too. They have a flock block to peck on and perches.
The first one was white, I went to the coop and found one dead on her back, it looked like she had a stroke. She showed no warning signs.
The next one was an Easter egger, we found her pecked down to her organs under her wing.
The other one, a black/white one I found lethargic in the coop, she didn’t look good and wasn’t interested in any food. So I brought her inside and tried to look at her but couldn’t find anything. I put her in warm water for a little then wrapped her in a towel and tried to think of what to do. She squaked and died not long after I brought her inside):
This next one I really loved. She was gold and named kitty because she purred so much. I found her lethargic and her comb was super pale, I took her inside and made her comfortable, offered her food and water but she would only eat a little and her aim wasn’t good like she couldn’t really get the food. She started seeming a little better and then worse. I was syringing her water and checking on her every couple hours for days. She kept falling over and leaning to one side but her feet were fine. She wouldn’t be able to get up by herself and and she would just flap her wings trying to move. She wouldn’t lean up and when you helped her she would just fall back down and barely keep her eyes open but she was still alive. After that we decided to put her down. I couldn’t watch her suffer like that anymore and it was just so strange. The only possible thing I could think of is meriks? But I don’t even know if chickens can get that?
So now here I am with 12 hens and I’m just afraid of losing anymore. When I went outside the other day two of the Easter eggers were missing feathers on the top of their heads like a line, as if they were wearing a headband is the best way to describe it. At first I thought the others did pecked them but it’s so weird for both of them to have it look the exact same.
The other weird thing is two of my white ones. I went out there today and saw some blood and scabbing on their feet and the others started to peck them. Of course I freak out because I don’t want another to die from getting pecked to death. So I cleaned them up and wrapped them but it’s also really weird that it’s almost the exact same on both of the white ones? and it’s on both of their feet. I don’t know how both of them would get scratched on both feet at the same time in the same place?
I’m just at a loss right now and exhausted and there’s so much information out there and I don’t know what to do to. I know with livestock comes death but I love these girls. They’re my pets and give my family their eggs. I just want them to be healthy and happy.
Anyways if you read this far thank you lol. Any help or advice would be appreciated. I feel like I’ve tried everything I could think of, bought all the stuff I could think of. Is this all from putting so many breeds together? Why/how/what could they be getting sick with? How are the breeds getting injured at the same time? How can I prevent it?
