- Jul 21, 2011
- 9
- 0
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Hi,
Over the past two months I have lost a few chickens. It is all a bit intermittent and although the symptoms seem similar it is sometimes up to 3 weeks before I lose another bird.
They have mostly all looked a little 'off' - squinty eyes, faces pale off slightly, look lethargic and hold their tails down - then within 2-4 days have just died. There have been no prior symptoms or signs like sneezing, runny poos, messy bottoms etc and where they have laid dead, there is no blood from either end.
They are kept free range in a large run as we have a resident fox nearby, have free access to clean water and a 50/50 mix of layers pellets and mixed corn, with oyster grit in piles around the run. They all sleep indoors which is cleaned out twice weekly with sawdust on the floor and two separate nest boxes with straw in which they don't sleep in.
The thing that bothers me most is that I had two 18 weeks old red pekin cockerels in the run with 5 other hens - three more pekins and 2 aracauna x silkies - who were both running around and eating yesterday and practising their crowing, they literally looked like a picture of health. Then overnight one had died in their house, again no mess near his body although there was a little bit of blood in a different area which could have come from a different chicken.
This has broken the pattern of looking a little off then dying, so we have taken his body straight to the vets for a post mortem as well as the blood we found in the house for analysis. This is so disheartening as I have bred and raised all these hens and they are lovely and friendly, I thought I may just have had some bad luck but now it seems like it might all be related.
I was just wondering if anyone had any idea what they thought this might be and if they could offer any advice as I'm dreading going in the run in the morning for fear of what I might find
Thanks,
crispyminstral
Newcomer / Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:04 pm
Over the past two months I have lost a few chickens. It is all a bit intermittent and although the symptoms seem similar it is sometimes up to 3 weeks before I lose another bird.
They have mostly all looked a little 'off' - squinty eyes, faces pale off slightly, look lethargic and hold their tails down - then within 2-4 days have just died. There have been no prior symptoms or signs like sneezing, runny poos, messy bottoms etc and where they have laid dead, there is no blood from either end.
They are kept free range in a large run as we have a resident fox nearby, have free access to clean water and a 50/50 mix of layers pellets and mixed corn, with oyster grit in piles around the run. They all sleep indoors which is cleaned out twice weekly with sawdust on the floor and two separate nest boxes with straw in which they don't sleep in.
The thing that bothers me most is that I had two 18 weeks old red pekin cockerels in the run with 5 other hens - three more pekins and 2 aracauna x silkies - who were both running around and eating yesterday and practising their crowing, they literally looked like a picture of health. Then overnight one had died in their house, again no mess near his body although there was a little bit of blood in a different area which could have come from a different chicken.
This has broken the pattern of looking a little off then dying, so we have taken his body straight to the vets for a post mortem as well as the blood we found in the house for analysis. This is so disheartening as I have bred and raised all these hens and they are lovely and friendly, I thought I may just have had some bad luck but now it seems like it might all be related.
I was just wondering if anyone had any idea what they thought this might be and if they could offer any advice as I'm dreading going in the run in the morning for fear of what I might find
Thanks,
crispyminstral
Newcomer / Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:04 pm
