One of our chickens died and I am wondering if our problem is bigger than that

[robyn66]

About a week ago we found one of our Barred Rocks un able to stand up in the coop. I brought her in to the house and lined a huge Rubbermaid container with newspapers and gave her food and water. She was eating and drinking no problems I even saw her eat today! The only thing that worried me was the clear poop with just a little green in it. Today, she fell over and closed her eyes, her mouth was open like she was gasping for air. No mucus, here eyes never looked dull she just died. I'm afraid that my flock might have some disease. The rest of them are all acting fine and there is no sign of illness. I looked up chicken diseases and found a million of them and so I don't know what to do.

The only other problem is that these chickens are not even three years old and they basically stopped laying. I have been getting 1-2 eggs a week out of six chickens since summer. We added oyster shells to their food, I bought chicken vitamins changed to organic food (but then changed back to their regular food (because we didn't know if THAT was the problem)

So I don't know what to do. Do we cull the whole flock and start over in the spring? I am not sure I would want to eat any of these birds because I don't know if they are sick.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated
Robyn

 

[mworthington]

I've been having similar issues!! We were down to the same count on egg production then we started feeding them more food and they started producing large eggs. A few days ago one hen was laying around not acting right, yesterday she was gone. Today I have another doing the same thing!! I don't want to loose any of my birds but this girl that's sick now is my fav.

They appear to be bloated twice their normal size and just lay around.....?

If you get any answer could you please let me know. I've posted but noone is replying. I will do the same if I find out anything.

 

[robyn66]

I sure will let you know what I find out if anything!

 

[cafarmgirl]

About a week ago we found one of our Barred Rocks un able to stand up in the coop. I brought her in to the house and lined a huge Rubbermaid container with newspapers and gave her food and water. She was eating and drinking no problems I even saw her eat today! The only thing that worried me was the clear poop with just a little green in it. Today, she fell over and closed her eyes, her mouth was open like she was gasping for air. No mucus, here eyes never looked dull she just died. I'm afraid that my flock might have some disease. The rest of them are all acting fine and there is no sign of illness. I looked up chicken diseases and found a million of them and so I don't know what to do.

The only other problem is that these chickens are not even three years old and they basically stopped laying. I have been getting 1-2 eggs a week out of six chickens since summer. We added oyster shells to their food, I bought chicken vitamins changed to organic food (but then changed back to their regular food (because we didn't know if THAT was the problem)

So I don't know what to do. Do we cull the whole flock and start over in the spring? I am not sure I would want to eat any of these birds because I don't know if they are sick.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated
Robyn

Unfortunately there are many things this could have been and without having had a necropsy done, preferably by your state poultry pathology lab or a university, it's all really just a guessing game. Things I'd consider first would be parasites, mites or worms. Have your birds been on a regular deworming schedule? Was she feeling thin? Any bloating in her lower abdomen? We could make some guesses and generalizations based on her body condition when she died but that's about it.

As far as the flock not laying, most birds that age stop laying when the days get shorter in the fall, especially if they molt. My two year old flock quit laying when they all started molting in the fall, I just got my first egg again yesterday from one bird. For that reason some people do cull/process hens when they are about two years old. They will usually pick up the laying again come spring. I have 5 1/2 year old hens who still lay an egg every other day from spring until they molt in fall.