Sick Chick

[aussie5]

I started a backyard flock with 6 Rhode Island Reds 18 months ago, mostly kept on deep litter sometime each week free in garden. Three developed very pale comb, lost feathers and two of them died. The third is still alive but looks terrible. I have separated her because healthy hens were picking on her. What coud be causing this? Is there a good book that gives pictures of various ailments?

 

[Half-a-dozen]

I don't know what grows around by you but my nieghbor who is big into gardening keeps on telling me what flowers/ weeds/ berries to be careful of when my chickens go out to range. Some are very fatal to their health.
There is one in particular by me, I forgot what its called but it is a small weed that grows it has red/pink coloration on the stem and occassionally you can find a berry on it and apparently is fatal to a chicken. So I have mine steer dead clear of those and rip them out of the ground whenever I see one popping up.
Hope you find the cause and get to the root of the problem. Good luck and sorry to hear about your chickens.

 

[dlhunicorn]

might be something in the litter as they are scratching around it....
I would clean everything out and chage the litter after disinfecting... if your birds have died , it is always best in that circumstance to take in and have necropsied as that is the only way you will know for sure what you are dealing with. Cant remember who posted it but there is a thread posted here in the last couple days with a link on how to arrange a necropsy within your state vet labs