Chicken problems

[Guest FiddleDog]

Not sure if this is the best place for this question, but I figured as it food self sustainability, I 'd put it here.  Over the last 2 weeks, I've lost 2 of my 6 hens.  They were around 8 months old and appeared to have good weight on them.  The only thing in common with the 2 is that they died overnight (within 24 hours of rain) and they separated themselves from the others to find a place to die.  Nothing could get into the coop, and they are well fed and watered.  Anyone with experience with birds that could shed some light?

 

Thanks

[xRUSTYx]

Not sure how much we'll be able to help!  I've done quite a bit of research on raising chickens and plan to some day. 

 

For my research ~ I went here:  www.backyardchickens.com/f/‎

 

Lots of knowledgeable & helpful people!  I bet they'd be able to help you out real well :)

 

Good luck on figuring out what happened!

[Wingshooter]

Chicken pox?

...or bird flu?

Sorry, couldn't resist :)


I have no idea, but hopefully it is isolated to just those 2

[RichardR]

Without closely examining them it's really hard to say, iffin I had to guess at the most likely cause with no signs of illness or injuries it'd be they were probably egg-bound.

[Tobashadow]

Sounds like egg bound to me also. With two out of six doing it id make sure your giving them enough calcium.

[gunwhatgun]

Did they by any chance have a wet head when you found them and laying out straight, i.e. their legs behind them. IF so you have a chicken snake. Usually the only want eggs, but larger snakes will try to eat a chicken and only kill it.

Edited May 24, 2013 by gunwhatgun

[dats82]

Weasels will also kill your birds.  They will look completely fine with the only marks usually under the wings.  The weasel just sucks the blood out of them, and can get in a coop when you think it's tighter than Fort Knox. 

[enfield]

Chupachicken!  :rofl:

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Weasels will also kill your birds.  They will look completely fine with the only marks usually under the wings.  The weasel just sucks the blood out of them, and can get in a coop when you think it's tighter than Fort Knox. 

Old wifes Tale... Weasels will kill a chicken just like any other predator and eat it....They actually will eat more of the smaller mammals around ...

Also known peopel to say they do a hypnotic dance to enrtance their prey..

 

Some people still believe in this garbage..lol

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

There are way prenty things that can kill a chicken.. if they all end up dying you might have some sort of disease thats going around.. maybe nutritional related..

You will not know unless you have a necropsie performed..

A heavy worm investation can also kill  the birds..

[Guest FiddleDog]

Chupachicken!  :rofl:

nice, I was thinking Coop-a-cabra, myself.

[Guest TNSovereignty]

Maybe you've resolved this already but I would start changing some things up.  Feed/nutrition comes to mind for the possible egg-binding - have you tried changing feeds?  For calcium I grind up our egg shells & feed w/ the rest of house scraps.  As for illnesses, it may be time to clean & disinfect the coop, and/or get them outdoors in a moving chicken tractor/pen.  Putting a little Basic H soap (Shaklee product) in their water occasionally will clean out their worms & parasites.

[Guest FiddleDog]

H soap.  I've not hears of that. I've been trying to supplement their calcium intake through feed supplements and egg shells.  The other 4 seem pretty happy right now (but then again, so did the two who died  ).