New Chicken "Owner" in AZ

[KITTYCAMARO]

My neighbor abandoned his chickens a little over a month ago and they have adopted me. I am learning about chickens the hard way. 2 have already died and i am looking for someone to walk me through this. The first chicken, Emma, it turns out had lice and had laid eggs in her ear. She died the next day after going to the Vet. She had not been able to walk very well for a month, and it took me that long to find a Vet that would look at her. The second chicken, Cracker, died yesterday night when she was going to roost. I found her laying on the ground when i went out to close the coop door. She had blood coming out of her mouth. The roost is not quite 6 feet tall and i wonder if it is too high and she fell.

If anyone one out there has time to talk to me about chickens, please respond. I want to get more chickens, but not if i keep killing them.

Kitty

 

[LarryPQ]

We are here for you.

Come see us in teh AZ thread. Where are you located?

There are LOTS of AZ people.

 

[Arcnadius]

Read all you can here or try to find some books and raising chickens. My local hardware/farm supply store had a couple books I picked up. It gives a good start and the forum here is a great follow-up resource. Good luck to you and thank you for taking in those neglected birds.

 

[LarryPQ]

Lice generally will not kill an adult chicken. If the chicken has another issue, then lice will move the death along faster.

Chickens fall, and sometimes die. The roost height is probably fine, but if you could tell us about the materials you used for the roost, it may help us problem solve.

How many chickens do you have? What is their housign like? Do they have adequate food, water, and shade?

Shade and water are the biggest thing right now. It is starting to him 100, and I have found any weaker or chickens who will be susceptible to heat stroke, will croak in the first week of 100 degree temperatures.

 

[schellie69]

from Kansas
For lice you are going to need to get sevin dust and dust each chicken clean the coop area and put down new bedding and sprinkle sevin dust in the coop
What are you feeding them and how many and sex of the remaining chickens?

 

[dawg53]

Welcome to BYC.

 

[Desert Rooster]

Hello

from Hesperia, Ca and

 

[KITTYCAMARO]

Thank you to everyone for your responses. To answer your questions: i live in New River, Arizona. I have read a few books on chickens and skipped the pages where they wrote about culling. Maybe i missed some important information by not reading that. My chickens; RJ the rooster, and his sister wives, Dixie, Gimpy and Big Red are free range because that's how the neighbor raised them and i don't have the heart to lock them up (except at night). I feed them kitchen scraps (bananas, strawberries and tomatoes are their favorites) and scratch.

The coop is an 11' x 12' a-frame with a concrete/carpet floor. (Poor Cracker landed on the part without carpet). When the neighbor left i looked at his coop and the main thing that i did different was to make the roost shorter, 5 1/2 feet tall and put in 2 ladders. The chickens have several ways to jump to the roost that are higher than the floor. (Does that make sense?) They have plenty of food, water and shade. I wet down the shaded area under a tree, if it's hot, and if i leave my doors open, i have found chickens in the house! Funny story...one day i was in the kitchen chopped veggies and looked down to find 3 chickens at my feet. So i threw the scraps on the floor! It was cute, but one of them left me a present on the way out, if you know what i mean!

I'm done rambling for the day. Thanks for listening to me. Takes my mind off of Cracker for awhile.

Kitty

 

[4-H chicken mom]

and

from Ohio. So glad you joined. If I were you I would take up the carpet and put down a thick layer of shavings. It is easier on their feet. That carpet holds to many odors.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Hello from a fellow Arizonan and

Good for you for taking care of those birds! Definitely come say hello in the AZ thread.