Two dead chickens in two days please help.

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
You can buy the vaccine yourself here (this is just one online house, and I have ordered from them successfully):
http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc...28PTPB2U3F2S9HPSVA570&pf_id=16782&cmkw=mareks

The reason I mention that is if you ever want to do hatching eggs. Some people don't want to order a whole lot of chickens at once. But "My Pet Chicken" (I like them a lot) and "Nature's Hatchery" (I have an order in with them right now, chicks will be shipped soon) offer small orders of chicks if you pay a lot.

OR

I have also ordered from McMurray Hatchery and liked them.
You can also ask the farm store if the chicks were vaccinated. I don't know if that can be counted on more or less than ordering from a hatchery- mistakes can be made either way. The only sure way to know is to give the vaccine yourself. Only thing is, if you order hatching eggs, you will end up with half roosters!

There are others that people have mentioned on here (LOTS of threads on this):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/se...www.backyardchickens.com/forum/index.php#1238

 

[toughchickens]

I'm in phoenix 2 reds died after laying eggs see my earlier post. do you think its the heat and the up and down weather we've been having- mine are young about 24 weeks now and these were there first eggs

 

[tallyho]

I had this Marek's discussion with my vet since I took a hen in with a limp. She said that the vaccine should be effective at preventing Marek's for a few years but losses occur in a small % of chicks when given the vaccine. Now I wonder what you have going on there.

One of the hatcheries here charges a $1 per chick for the vaccine but it has to be requested.

Of my original 6 I ended up with 2 (sick chick, predators). I still have those old girls and got new ones. If it's one thing it's another.

Tell those girls to hang on!!!!

 

[southphoenixchick]

Quote:
I don't see the earlier post I must be blind but I doubt it is heat. They are dying around 9 and 10pm which is an odd time to die if it is the heat, the chicks are doing the best of the flock and I would think they would be more sensitive to the heat. Also they have been laying for one to two months so it's not completely new laying.

 

[southphoenixchick]

Wanted to update everyone. We still have two living hens and two living chicks. We went ahead with the erthromycin with no idea about how much to give. I crushed some and put it in their water. I figured we had nothing to lose at this point. The two remaining hens were siting like the others earlier today and now are moving about. I found two eggs in the nesting boxes, one appears to have blood on it. That worried me and I figured we'd be losing them tonight but they are up and moving as if fine. I'm wondering if the meds are helping. I really wish I knew. I'm throwing away the eggs and keeping my fingers crossed.

I also went ahead and gave them the starter feed I've been giving the chicks. I'm pretty sure it's not medicated but I figured what the hell the chicks are the only healthy acting ones and that's the only difference maybe?

 

[mrsp523]

So sorry for what you and the girls are going through

I hope those that are around now make it. I was told if I get chickens I better get used to loss...as it will happen for a varity of reasons. Were at 4 plus months with no loses yet. I went home one afternoon a while back and we couldnt find one, my goodness what a sad moment. I mumbled with a tear "never again" then a lit bit later I heard the roo...they decieded to take a walk further than normal! Ugh. Remember one only knows saddness because they know love. I try and remind my kids thats animals live such shorter lives so that we can be around the whole time to care and love them. And if they had a good life while they were around, then that is a great thing. Also at my pet chicken you can order just females...I ordered 9 female, and got 100% female (there is only about a 90% accuracy) Good luck.

 

[gottsegnet]

If your chickens have only started laying relatively recently, bloody eggs are no concern. That's a big hard thing to push out such a tiny hole!

I wouldn't cull unless they seem miserable. Even birds that begin to show symptoms can sometimes recover and depending on what you're dealing with may have immunity.

I lost several birds this summer with no idea what caused it. I was resigned to losing the whole flock without ever discovering a symptom but the deaths finally stopped.

The one thing I wondered though was that most of them were just beginning to lay (a common time for losses) and had come from the same hatchery. I found out a neighbor had started w/ 10 barred rocks from the same place and ended up with three. Most of my losses were barred rocks. Made me wonder if there wasn't some sort of congenital defect.

Or maybe it was one of the semi-panicked things we did. I treated the whole flock for mites and started putting apple cider vinegar in their water. I changed feed, though they had new bags and disinfected everything. I stopped letting them free range for fear they were getting into something.

 

[southphoenixchick]

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Who knows. I gave my girls yogurt and oatmeal, I started giving them the chick starter since the chicks (should start calling them pullets they are feathered out already) were surviving fine. But other than the one try with the erythromycin which we decided couldn't of helped because I finally found dosing and we were WAY under the right dose. It called for 1/2 gram to a gal and we gave closer to 1/2 gram to 4 gal. So who knows maybe they'd have gotten better on their own.

I don't think it was the breed because we had loses across the breeds. We lost one wellsummer, one barred rock, and one rhode island red, and have left one dominique, one red, and two wellsummer pullets that were slightly seperated but not from air born illness. And they came from three different stores.

As to the blood on the egg. They are not very new layers. About 1 to 2 months of laying. Hard to say who started when though. But maybe this egg was from a more recent layer. I never can tell who lays what.

My Big question is when do you think we can eat the eggs again? They are acting healthy, one is laying an egg I believe right now and I hate throwing them out. I just threw out thirteen last night and it was almost as painful as throwing out the dead chickens. It was their last legacy and I just pitched them in the trash. That hurt.