This year I buried more chickens than I got eggs

[BelgianRoo]

Hi everyone,

The reason for joining this forum is because we have lost all but 1 chicken this year. We live in Belgium. just so you know what is winter and what is summer for us.
in the spring of 2017 My wife and i got 4 chickens about 6 month or so old. And 2 ducks (which turned out to be meatducks). They started laying eggs 1 month in. During the winter of 2017 the number of eggs dropped a bit but in spring back to normal.
In the summer of 2018 we rescued 2 chickens from a eggfarm they were 1,5 year old and had never seen grass or sunlight. By the end of the summer we had 6 healthy and productive chickens (+/- 35 egg/week) and 2 very large meatducks (we aren't planning on using them for meat)

During the winter of 2018-2019 egg production stopped. 0 eggs since december 2018.
We lost our first chicken in march i think it was. I found here dead in the coop. No obvious reason. No marks of predators no marks of sickness. I thought it happens. we burried the chicken and moved on.
1 month later an other one dead in the coop. this one had and egg stuck. so again i thought that happens and moved on. in summer we found one dead by the house on a very hot day. again not a mark on her I just build a new coop that is easier to keep clean.

3 weeks ago i found one dead in the coop again and just now one more. both without any marks on them. so we are down to 1 chicken and 2 ducks.

With the fist one i thought that maybe our male duck trampeled her but all 5???
The coop doens't have any signs of mythes. no signs of predation they just drop dead one by one.

What happened? What are we doing wrong????
if any one knows something that might help let me know

 

[Rammy]

Male ducks will kill your hens when they try to breed with them. Drakes actually have a penis and can seriously harm a hen during the mating process. Rooster anatomy is different as they "kiss" the vent when mating. If you did not have an autopsy done you probably wont know what caused the death fir sure. Good chances are your drake is the reason. Either get him some females, or build a separate pen and get him out of there or your last hen may get hurt too. Good luck. Sorry for your loss.

 

[ValerieJ]

I don't know if you have a lab in Belgium for getting a necropsy done on a bird that has died, but that would tell you definitively what has happened. If you keep the bird refrigerated but not frozen while you look it will keep for a day or two.

If there is no sign of disease, injury or mites/lice on your birds, then I would look at food, water and environment possibilities. What do they eat? What feed and treats and what proportions. Do you supply grit and oyster shell? Is the feed fresh? Do they get fresh water daily? Do they free range at all? Is there anything they could get into, that perhaps was sprayed with insecticides for example.

I'm so sorry for all your losses. It is heartbreaking for sure.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

Sorry for your losses