SarahSmalls
Chirping
- Nov 7, 2017
- 13
- 8
- 50
I’ve had a strange illness that about 4 or 5 of my chickens have suffered from over the last two years.
they have been varying ages, and no particular breeds. (they have been a mix of Orpingtons, austrolorpes, barreds and RIRs).
Symptoms
4/5 of the birds that have had this have died (some have had fits).
for the life of me I cannot figure it out. I only lose one bird at a time, so I’m thinking it’s probably not infectious. I check for wounds and none are found. Could it be something they are eating? That’s the only thing I can think, we have lots of lizards and caterpillars and mushrooms, I don’t feed then much ”human” food. They are on a purine layer mix that they have been their whole lives, they have fresh water and a big fenced in area to sleep in at night with a coop I clean out once a week. They did have a bout of scaly leg mites, but I used diatomaceous earth and some poultry dust to rid the area of these.
any books or threads on the topic are usually centered around what humans may have fed their chickens that are poisonous. Not what they may have found themselves. what does anyone think? Has anyone seen anything similar?
they have been varying ages, and no particular breeds. (they have been a mix of Orpingtons, austrolorpes, barreds and RIRs).
Symptoms
- lethargy
- uncoordinated leg movements
- eye rolling
- trouble balancing ( may fall to one side)
- no loss of interest in food or water
- sometimes if you tip them upside down, weird stuff falls out of their crop
- fit
4/5 of the birds that have had this have died (some have had fits).
for the life of me I cannot figure it out. I only lose one bird at a time, so I’m thinking it’s probably not infectious. I check for wounds and none are found. Could it be something they are eating? That’s the only thing I can think, we have lots of lizards and caterpillars and mushrooms, I don’t feed then much ”human” food. They are on a purine layer mix that they have been their whole lives, they have fresh water and a big fenced in area to sleep in at night with a coop I clean out once a week. They did have a bout of scaly leg mites, but I used diatomaceous earth and some poultry dust to rid the area of these.
any books or threads on the topic are usually centered around what humans may have fed their chickens that are poisonous. Not what they may have found themselves. what does anyone think? Has anyone seen anything similar?
