Ugh. I loved having chickens up until recently. I'll try to keep this brief and to the point. About 4 weeks ago one of my barred rocks got (what i'm fairly confident was) vent gleet. I bathed her and put antifungal cream on her daily and and it looked like she was on the mend. When I lock them up at night I always check on them all and she was laying on the ground dead! That was two weeks ago.
Shortly after that I went into the coop during the day to check for eggs or feed levels or something like that and a Rhode Island Red was laying on the ground and I thought she was dead. I picked her up and she stirred. Since then she has refused to ever go in the coop, and I have seen my surviving Barred Rock attack her on more than one occasion. If I bring food out, she will eat a bit and there is no sign of her being sick other than she acts lethargic and withdrawn from the flock and holds her head low. Doesn't scratch and peck - just finds a safe spot and sits there.
Today I found one of my Columbian Rocks has one eye swollen shut and she is acting lethargic. There was what looks like scratch in the corner of the eyelid. She spent most of the day sitting on the ground under a bush by the coop. There is a small amount of white discharge by her vent.
I'm very frustrated and discouraged. I put every effort into keeping my chickens happy (one of the main reasons we got chickens was to get eggs from happy chickens, not sad caged chickens). I am starting to think the Rhode Island Red was injured by the Barred Rock and is now afraid to go in the coop. There wasn't any sign of trauma (I didn't do a super thorough inspection, but there was definitely no blood or anything). After the first Barred Rock got sick, I stopped giving them much fruit/veggies/peelings etc. Looking back there was the odd time some fruit or bread with small amount of mold on it got given to them, so now I am afraid that is how she got sick. The only other thing I can think of is the chickens always find a way to spill some food from their feeder and sometimes it ends up in wet spots where they spill a bit of water (I use water nipples). Maybe the food is getting wet and going bad and that is causing the sickness? I can't guarantee the columbian rock is sick, but somethign is going on. I assumed it was attacked by the mean barred rock because I have seen her be mean to her too. Other than that I can't think of anything. They have lots of room (for my 8 chickens the run is probably about 25 feet by 70 feet) with lots of bushes and area. The coop is 8x8 with 4 nesting boxes, a feeder, two waterers, and lots of roost space (I think there is about 12 lineal feet of roost space). All I can think of is maybe reorganize the coop (which would be a lot of work) and put the food and water on complete opposite sides/corners. I used to have 10 hens and one rooster in the coop with no issues. The rooster has since been sent away, and the final hen is in a smaller coop/run set up with chicks she hatched. Any ideas? If other chickens show signs of being ill should I cull them? let them try and get better in isolation? I'm a patient person but starting to get very frustrated.
Shortly after that I went into the coop during the day to check for eggs or feed levels or something like that and a Rhode Island Red was laying on the ground and I thought she was dead. I picked her up and she stirred. Since then she has refused to ever go in the coop, and I have seen my surviving Barred Rock attack her on more than one occasion. If I bring food out, she will eat a bit and there is no sign of her being sick other than she acts lethargic and withdrawn from the flock and holds her head low. Doesn't scratch and peck - just finds a safe spot and sits there.
Today I found one of my Columbian Rocks has one eye swollen shut and she is acting lethargic. There was what looks like scratch in the corner of the eyelid. She spent most of the day sitting on the ground under a bush by the coop. There is a small amount of white discharge by her vent.
I'm very frustrated and discouraged. I put every effort into keeping my chickens happy (one of the main reasons we got chickens was to get eggs from happy chickens, not sad caged chickens). I am starting to think the Rhode Island Red was injured by the Barred Rock and is now afraid to go in the coop. There wasn't any sign of trauma (I didn't do a super thorough inspection, but there was definitely no blood or anything). After the first Barred Rock got sick, I stopped giving them much fruit/veggies/peelings etc. Looking back there was the odd time some fruit or bread with small amount of mold on it got given to them, so now I am afraid that is how she got sick. The only other thing I can think of is the chickens always find a way to spill some food from their feeder and sometimes it ends up in wet spots where they spill a bit of water (I use water nipples). Maybe the food is getting wet and going bad and that is causing the sickness? I can't guarantee the columbian rock is sick, but somethign is going on. I assumed it was attacked by the mean barred rock because I have seen her be mean to her too. Other than that I can't think of anything. They have lots of room (for my 8 chickens the run is probably about 25 feet by 70 feet) with lots of bushes and area. The coop is 8x8 with 4 nesting boxes, a feeder, two waterers, and lots of roost space (I think there is about 12 lineal feet of roost space). All I can think of is maybe reorganize the coop (which would be a lot of work) and put the food and water on complete opposite sides/corners. I used to have 10 hens and one rooster in the coop with no issues. The rooster has since been sent away, and the final hen is in a smaller coop/run set up with chicks she hatched. Any ideas? If other chickens show signs of being ill should I cull them? let them try and get better in isolation? I'm a patient person but starting to get very frustrated.
