Hey Folks,
We started raising three chicks last July when we purchased the birds from My Pet Chicken. Things went well and we moved them outside to their coop in September. They weathered the winter and we started getting our first eggs right around Christmas. Since February, the eggs have been rolling in and things have been going well.
About two weeks ago when I went out to open the coop (Saltbox style for ~4 chickens), I found the Rhode Island Red dead in one of the egg boxes. The chicken was active and alert in the days prior and we did not think anything wrong up until I found her dead in the coop. The kids were distraught, but sometimes these things happen, right? Then over this weekend, one of our other chickens just laid down and died in the run. A friend was tending them while we were away and the chicken was acting normal, but then just laid down, got up, then laid down again and never got up.
We are now scratching our heads trying to figure out what is happening. There has been no indication that any of the chickens have been sick and all have been eating/drinking as normal. We are now left with one chicken and are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't find that one dead too.
So I wanted to put this information out to the other members and ask for any guidance or help with what is going on? Is there anything we should focus our investigation on? Is it just a coincidence? Are there any precautions we should be taking?
Please let us know your thoughts - any information will be helpful to set out minds at ease. We'll likely be buying a few more chicks to start up the flock again, but there is a bit of a thunder cloud over it at the moment.
Best Regards,
-Okt
We started raising three chicks last July when we purchased the birds from My Pet Chicken. Things went well and we moved them outside to their coop in September. They weathered the winter and we started getting our first eggs right around Christmas. Since February, the eggs have been rolling in and things have been going well.
About two weeks ago when I went out to open the coop (Saltbox style for ~4 chickens), I found the Rhode Island Red dead in one of the egg boxes. The chicken was active and alert in the days prior and we did not think anything wrong up until I found her dead in the coop. The kids were distraught, but sometimes these things happen, right? Then over this weekend, one of our other chickens just laid down and died in the run. A friend was tending them while we were away and the chicken was acting normal, but then just laid down, got up, then laid down again and never got up.
We are now scratching our heads trying to figure out what is happening. There has been no indication that any of the chickens have been sick and all have been eating/drinking as normal. We are now left with one chicken and are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't find that one dead too.
So I wanted to put this information out to the other members and ask for any guidance or help with what is going on? Is there anything we should focus our investigation on? Is it just a coincidence? Are there any precautions we should be taking?
Please let us know your thoughts - any information will be helpful to set out minds at ease. We'll likely be buying a few more chicks to start up the flock again, but there is a bit of a thunder cloud over it at the moment.
Best Regards,
-Okt
