Chunck
In the Brooder
Hi, I live on an acre in AZ. My wife and I had been thinking of getting chickens for a while. Our neighbor brought home a young rooster from a friend and thought he'd fatten it up. Well the rooster liked the juniper tree in our yard better than my neighbor's baron backyard. Needless to say we ended up with a pet rooster. My wife figured it would be a good time to start our chicken adventure. We went to a local estate sale a couple days later and there were a couple hens running around. My wife asked about them and the guy said if we could catch them they'd be ours. I got one that day and the other disappeared before I could return to catch it. The one I got was laying 1 to 2 eggs a day (that I had to fish out from under the juniper.) I thought, this is great.
So the adventure begins. While my wife was out of town to stay with my step-daughter, who just had our first grandchild, I picked up a brand new coop and bought 3 Rhode Island Red hens from a local breeder. They were about 3 to 4 mos old at the time, a month and a half ago. We notice one was a little slower and smaller than the others. We named her Dopey. I liked her because she was friendlier then the others. When I let them out of the coop in the morning she'd stand on my foot for a few moments before scurrying off. We also notice she was kind of in a world of her own sometimes. While all the others were hunting bugs in a pack, she'd be wandering around eating the occasional bug and just being Dopey.
We had a storm come through last month and there was a major wind event. It blew the coop over and I had to wade out there to right the coop and check the girls. All the girls seemed fine, however after that the full grown hen stopped laying eggs and even with setting an egg in the nesting box she hasn't shown any interest in restarting. So now we have non-laying pet chicken.
Well we went on vacation last week and my neighbor was looking after the girls while we were gone. He texted me to let me know one of the little hens had died in the coop. He couldn't tell why. He has raised chickens and has experience. Unfortunately I got home to find out it was Dopey. That was last week. Now a few days ago I noticed the next youngest hen was lethargic and wasn't standing as tall as normal. Then yesterday she seemed to perk up. This morning I had to get her out of the coop and set her in the sun. I'm thinking she's not going to last the day. All the others seems to be as healthy as can be. I'm thinking it may be worms because of the info I got from several threads on this website. So my wife is going to look for Valbazen or albendazole while she's out running errands this morning. We have several feed stores and a couple Tractor Supplies here around the Prescott area.
Now we've had the rooster for a few months and the full grown hen for a little less. Neither of them have become ill or had any signs of lethargy or poop issues (they seem to go everywhere.) So I'm at a loss as to why the younger ones would start having problems. Unless it's because they are younger and more susceptible to health issues. I've texted the gal I bought them from and asked what they were vaccinated for. I'm waiting to hear back.
That's my chicken addiction story. I feel like I just joined a group therapy or something... 3
Chunck
So the adventure begins. While my wife was out of town to stay with my step-daughter, who just had our first grandchild, I picked up a brand new coop and bought 3 Rhode Island Red hens from a local breeder. They were about 3 to 4 mos old at the time, a month and a half ago. We notice one was a little slower and smaller than the others. We named her Dopey. I liked her because she was friendlier then the others. When I let them out of the coop in the morning she'd stand on my foot for a few moments before scurrying off. We also notice she was kind of in a world of her own sometimes. While all the others were hunting bugs in a pack, she'd be wandering around eating the occasional bug and just being Dopey.
We had a storm come through last month and there was a major wind event. It blew the coop over and I had to wade out there to right the coop and check the girls. All the girls seemed fine, however after that the full grown hen stopped laying eggs and even with setting an egg in the nesting box she hasn't shown any interest in restarting. So now we have non-laying pet chicken.
Well we went on vacation last week and my neighbor was looking after the girls while we were gone. He texted me to let me know one of the little hens had died in the coop. He couldn't tell why. He has raised chickens and has experience. Unfortunately I got home to find out it was Dopey. That was last week. Now a few days ago I noticed the next youngest hen was lethargic and wasn't standing as tall as normal. Then yesterday she seemed to perk up. This morning I had to get her out of the coop and set her in the sun. I'm thinking she's not going to last the day. All the others seems to be as healthy as can be. I'm thinking it may be worms because of the info I got from several threads on this website. So my wife is going to look for Valbazen or albendazole while she's out running errands this morning. We have several feed stores and a couple Tractor Supplies here around the Prescott area.
Now we've had the rooster for a few months and the full grown hen for a little less. Neither of them have become ill or had any signs of lethargy or poop issues (they seem to go everywhere.) So I'm at a loss as to why the younger ones would start having problems. Unless it's because they are younger and more susceptible to health issues. I've texted the gal I bought them from and asked what they were vaccinated for. I'm waiting to hear back.
That's my chicken addiction story. I feel like I just joined a group therapy or something... 3
Chunck
. Great to have you in our community! Wish it was under happier circumstances. I'm wondering if it's kind of a confluence of events that is plaguing you. A stressful event...such as birds to the flock...or the coop tumbling around in a storm, will certainly alter egg laying. I'm wondering if you inadvertently imported some diseases when you added new chickens? And with Dopey, it could be that or maybe it had other issues. I think you are doing the right thing by administering to them those medications. That way you can perhaps isolate what's going on. Here is a great place to post the symptoms you are seeing 
