The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[cmom]

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[bluebirdnanny]

If I had the money I'd do so in a split second. But life is life and I will just have to ask here or have a sit down with Fred & Jan.

 

[monnie662]

I am having a dilemma, I want to see if anyone is having the same problem. I think my roosters are either too big to breed my hens or their spurs are doing my hens in. I have lost three over the last few months seem healthy but then cannot walk and then die either within a few hours or over night. I lost another one last night that was perfectly okay until time to shut them up and there she was couldn't get up and she died about an hour later. If anyone can give me a suggestion I would appreciate the help, I don't need to lose any more of my girls my flock is not that big but love my HRIRs. This hen was one of my original HRIR and I was planning to hatch more eggs from this trio but down to the pair now.

 

[desertmarcy]

I am having a dilemma, I want to see if anyone is having the same problem. I think my roosters are either too big to breed my hens or their spurs are doing my hens in. I have lost three over the last few months seem healthy but then cannot walk and then die either within a few hours or over night. I lost another one last night that was perfectly okay until time to shut them up and there she was couldn't get up and she died about an hour later. If anyone can give me a suggestion I would appreciate the help, I don't need to lose any more of my girls my flock is not that big but love my HRIRs. This hen was one of my original HRIR and I was planning to hatch more eggs from this trio but down to the pair now.

Have you looked closely at the hens that died to see if there is damage from spurs? I know the spurs can rip, never heard of anybody losing multiple hens that way, though. If no mark on them, then I'd suspect a disease. If you really think the spurs are the problem, then remove them. It is easy to do, just get a pair of pliers, grab the base of the spur, twist back and forth a couple of times, and pull, and the sheath will slip right off. There will be some blood and he will be a little sore for a few days but better than dead hens. You can put some Quick Stop on the spur to stop the blood.

 

[FloydBhere]

In addition when you say lost them at night make me think a predator is the culprit. Chickens are usually inactive at night.. Recently a friend of mind had mysterious deaths and the animals were uneaten. A small possum was killing and leaving them. I cut my roosters toenails and Spurs.

 

[monnie662]

Have you looked closely at the hens that died to see if there is damage from spurs? I know the spurs can rip, never heard of anybody losing multiple hens that way, though. If no mark on them, then I'd suspect a disease. If you really think the spurs are the problem, then remove them. It is easy to do, just get a pair of pliers, grab the base of the spur, twist back and forth a couple of times, and pull, and the sheath will slip right off. There will be some blood and he will be a little sore for a few days but better than dead hens. You can put some Quick Stop on the spur to stop the blood.

The first hen was still warm when I found her it was when I was letting them out for the day and realized I was missing one and she was lying beside a divider I have dead, thought maybe she had hit her head when she came off the roost, which can happen the second one in the same pen was yesterday and she was down when I went to lock them up for the night it was not dark yet and she was down, I checked her body this morning and there is not a mark on her could not feel anything unusual on her another one I felt was egg bound but she just could not walk and she when I was feeling her to see if it was an egg hung she hollered real big and later start flopping and died, I had brought her in the house because the weather was so cold for us. I have been looking at my oldest roosters and felt I need to do something about their spurs but did not know if the HRIRs size had anything to do with the hens demise. If they were old hens I'd think old age but they were not old could be just a coincidence this happened everybody is happy and singing and no one seems to be ill, I watch for any weird things going on with them so will just sit back and watch and try to analyze what is going on. These are spoiled chickens so they are underfoot all the time. Just a sudden down and dead makes you wonder what is going on. Everyone's comb is pretty and red. Will sit back and watch but will do the spurs just to be on the safe side, these are some long spurs on one, the youngest one are not too long just starting to grow. Thanks for all the help I hate to wonder what is going on and I know there are some folks on here that have been dealing with issues longer than me who will have some good advice. Also no problem with predators as of yet, try to keep all pens tight.

 

[Fentress]

I have never had a diesease go through my flock, so I don't know what that is like, but on rare occassions a bird will suddenly die. I don't know how many birds you have, but 3 over the last few months doesn't seem that bad. Keep your eyes peeled and try to stay on top of what ever may be happening. Good Luck.

 

[cmom]

Have you introduced any new birds to your flock without putting them in quarantine first? Sometimes they can transfer problems that the new birds may be fairly immune to but your flock is not. Just a thought.

 

[Rancher3535]

I quarantine all birds that have left the farm for a show (two weeks) or new birds (a month or longer) that come in. Better to play it safe than sorry.

 

[RedRidge]

I have never had a diesease go through my flock, so I don't know what that is like, but on rare occassions a bird will suddenly die. I don't know how many birds you have, but 3 over the last few months doesn't seem that bad. Keep your eyes peeled and try to stay on top of what ever may be happening. Good Luck.

I guess that depends on the number of birds you have. I only have 300-400 at peak each year and loosing more than one a year (who was older than just hatched) would really worry me. But I'm anal and want an explanation for everything. ;-)