sick chickens

[cchalet]

I'm new to the forum, but have a concern. I noticed one of our White Giants isolating herself and fluffing out a couple months ago. She seemed to be eating (I witnessed this several times) and checked her out and could see no outside damage. This continued and I figured she was being a bit "broody." Winter finally subsided and I was able to clean the coop. I was astounded when I picked her up last week, there was nothing to her. She was so light. I tried to hand feed and she would eat nothing. She ended up dying last week. Everyone else seemed healthy and was eating and enjoying the warmer weather.
This morning I went into the coop to find one of my Deleware hens dead. I'm concerned that they may be diseased. She was perfectly fine yesterday. I'm perplexed. Any suggestions?

 

[roostersandhens]

She is probably broody. Some broody hens will sit on the nest and never leave. Then they lose a lot of weight. Give her chicken scratch it is a bit fattening. You can also post in the Emergencies/Diseases/Injuries and Cures section of the forum.

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

So sorry for your losses.

Wasting away can be from many things....worms, coccidiosis, bacterial or viral infections. Have you wormed your birds this past year? Worms will reproduce rapidly and spend their days in the intestinal tract eating all the food the bird consumes, eventually starving the bird to death. Coccidiosis causes them to go off their feed and water and eventually they also starve to death. So keeping them wormed is important, and if you suspect cocci, (sitting fluffed up and lethargic, not eating or drinking, runny dark poop) then you might get some Corid for the water. Use it for 5 days as the only drinking water available.

As Roostersandhens has suggested, you can also post this question in our emergency section for more help...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

Good luck with this issue, I hope you can get this solved soon.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your hens, X3 on posting in the Emergencies forum. As TwoCrows said, there are a lot of things that could have been wrong with them. If in doubt worming is usually a good idea and you probably want to give the other birds in your flock a really good going over also to see if you can find anything else going on, mites often become a problem in the winter. Laying hens often have reproductive problems that can cause wasting or sudden death, especially older birds.

 

[gander007]

 

[drumstick diva]

Sorry for your loss, were your hens laying eggs regularly or did they stop for some time before they died. Reproductive issues can be fatal if not attended to promptly, just like mites, worms, etc.