Please Help!! No one can figure this out. My flock is in trouble.

[South Dakota Chick]

This is long so God bless you if you get to the end.

We got laying hens about 2 years ago. Everything was going great until we added chicks. The first batch of chicks went out and then there was a surprise freeze in the middle of May. We lost several. I asked for advice and everyone told me to give them Corid. (I didn't realize that could be poisonous.)

We lost several more, including some crazy mishaps. Things seemed to even out and then the predators came and wiped out 65% of the flock. We rebuilt and tried again.

There was still this mysterious illness that would pop up every once in awhile, about every 4-6 weeks. One chicken here, two chickens there. I thought it was under control and got more poulets. One by one they all died.

We lost another half of the flock over the winter, I chalked it up to the extreme cold.

Then a few of our quail died from having their toes pecked off. We figured out that it was the chickens doing it and contained them to a very large run. I thought that quail disease had been the mystery. We were okay for a while but not long.

Come spring, we got more chicks. 25 chicks. In the first week of being outside, we lost 9. My son did a dissection on two that died in our arms and found that they had been severely bullied and had no food in their system at all.

We assumed, rightly, that it was the older hens bullying them. We sent another off for testing and it came back with the same results. We butchered the hens

We thought we had figured it out. But about 6 weeks later, I lost another one. Now, I have lost one bird every 4-6 weeks since April. I am down to 11 birds.

They all have the same course of illness but no real symptoms. They get a little floppy or quiet. I bring them in and quarantine them and they eat and drink like crazy. Within a couple of days they look like they will recover. Then they just start to sink into the cage and never stand up again.

There are no signs of mites or any other parasite. I have cleaned the coop repeatedly. They have been naturally wormed and we have not found any worms in those who have died or their droppings.

I am just at a lost and I don't want to lose my whole flock. Chickens have been one of the hardest things i have ever done.

 

[Marie2020]

I'm no expert but on the feeding part is there a way you could partition their feeding area and possibly even in the coop so they can see each other but have space from the bully's after you have established which of the hens are doing the bullying.

Maybe a bit of wire in-between the areas.

I used too pull out the bully too let them know and the others to see that they were not doing their selves any good by their bad behaviour that worked for me

 

[South Dakota Chick]

I'm no expert but on the feeding part is there a way you could partition their feeding area and possibly even in the coop so they can see each other but have space from the bully's after you have established which of the hens are doing the bullying.

Maybe a bit of wire in-between the areas.

I used too pull out the bully too let them know and the others to see that they were not doing their selves any good by their bad behaviour that worked for me

We butchered the hens who were doing the bullying. As far as I can see that is not the issue any longer. The hen was eating and running around and active until she wasn't. And there are completely different chickens than last year but still the same issue. But thank you, I am coming up with ideas for if and when we get chicks.

 

[Shadrach]

This is long so God bless you if you get to the end.

We got laying hens about 2 years ago. Everything was going great until we added chicks. The first batch of chicks went out and then there was a surprise freeze in the middle of May. We lost several. I asked for advice and everyone told me to give them Corid. (I didn't realize that could be poisonous.)

We lost several more, including some crazy mishaps. Things seemed to even out and then the predators came and wiped out 65% of the flock. We rebuilt and tried again.

There was still this mysterious illness that would pop up every once in awhile, about every 4-6 weeks. One chicken here, two chickens there. I thought it was under control and got more poulets. One by one they all died.

We lost another half of the flock over the winter, I chalked it up to the extreme cold.

Then a few of our quail died from having their toes pecked off. We figured out that it was the chickens doing it and contained them to a very large run. I thought that quail disease had been the mystery. We were okay for a while but not long.

Come spring, we got more chicks. 25 chicks. In the first week of being outside, we lost 9. My son did a dissection on two that died in our arms and found that they had been severely bullied and had no food in their system at all.

We assumed, rightly, that it was the older hens bullying them. We sent another off for testing and it came back with the same results. We butchered the hens

We thought we had figured it out. But about 6 weeks later, I lost another one. Now, I have lost one bird every 4-6 weeks since April. I am down to 11 birds.

They all have the same course of illness but no real symptoms. They get a little floppy or quiet. I bring them in and quarantine them and they eat and drink like crazy. Within a couple of days they look like they will recover. Then they just start to sink into the cage and never stand up again.

There are no signs of mites or any other parasite. I have cleaned the coop repeatedly. They have been naturally wormed and we have not found any worms in those who have died or their droppings.

I am just at a lost and I don't want to lose my whole flock. Chickens have been one of the hardest things i have ever done.

Send one for a necropsy. This at least might tell you if you have some kind of disease running through your chickens.

 

[janiedoe]

Corid isn't poisonous. It only treats cocidosis.
1.What do you feed your flock?
2.What size coop and run do you have?
Pictures of your set up and flock would help.
3.Where did you get the birds that you added? Hatchery or other?
4. Is it possible that you have rodents?
That would explain missing toes on the quail, and might cause disease as well.

 

[South Dakota Chick]

Corid isn't poisonous. It only treats cocidosis.
1.What do you feed your flock?
2.What size coop and run do you have?
Pictures of your set up and flock would help.
3.Where did you get the birds that you added? Hatchery or other?
4. Is it possible that you have rodents?
That would explain missing toes on the quail, and might cause disease as well.

We feed them Henhouse Reserve plus veggies from the garden and the weeds/bugs in their run.
Our flock primarlily came from a local breeder. There is no disease in her flock, we are the only ones who have had issues and she sells hundreds of chicks. I have been to her farm and know they are well kept.

Our coop is a 6 x 8 shed with roosting bars, they also have a 32 x 18 run that is dirt with grass and weeds, all of them are safe for chickens I have checked.

No rodents. We have a collection of cats that kill anything that comes near our property and a guard dog that kills whatever the cats miss.

The chickens were definitely the culprits for the quail because our dog didn't go after whatever was doing it and since we penned the chickens, it hasn't happened again.

I can take and send pictures when I let them out in a bit. Thanks.

 

[South Dakota Chick]

And the previous owner had chickens in the same location without any disease.

 

[janiedoe]

@Kiki can probably tell you where you can have a necropsy done.

 

[Kiki]

@Kiki can probably tell you where you can have a necropsy done.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/19849025

 

[South Dakota Chick]

The tall waterer is empty, that is for when it is really hot, I fill it with ice and water.
It has only been in the 80s this week.