- Apr 25, 2017
- 24
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I have had chickens for years, and have never dealt with anything like this! This flock is around 8 months old. I’ve had them since they were chicks. We sold our old flock to start over with younger layers. We haven’t lost a single one until a couple weeks ago. Our fist loss is unrelated to what is going on now I think. She had an impacted crop and nothing we tried worked. We lost another one yesterday. She had sour crop that we couldn’t get to go away. Now I have at least 2 more hens in the coop that aren’t eating, pale combs, puffed up in a corner and shaking their heads. Their crops are totally empty. This morning doing chores, it looked like 2 more hens were puffed up and shaking their heads. Their coop was cleaned after the hen came down with sour crop. Their waterers have been disinfected. We live in Iowa where it is still pretty cold. They did free range a couple days ago when it was warmer, but otherwise they have been locked in their coop. It is dry, good ventilation and fairly warm compared to the outside temperature. I will be moving the sick hens to a quarantine coop. They aren’t showing any signs of respiratory distress. I am extremely concerned with how quickly this seems to be spreading. I am worried I will lose my whole flock.
