4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[majorbloodnock]

OK, first the history. We bought a Cube about a year ago, along with a couple of Black Rocks from Omlet. Both birds settled in well, and it wasn't long before they were laying. A couple of months later, we added a couple of ex-battery Warrens, both of whom recovered from their previous sad existence and also settled in pretty quickly. My family and I also quickly settled into a weekly routine of emptying the droppings trays and nesting box and giving the whole Cube (including roosting bars) a good disinfectanted scrub. All good so far.

 

All continued fine until shortly before the well publicised blizzards, when one of our Black Rocks started getting lethargic. We wormed all the birds, sprinkled Stalosan liberally around, gave the sickly bird some help with a bit of honey in water to keep her energy up, brought her inside on a couple of nights to keep her warm, and all the other little tips and tricks we could find on this and several other sites. We even started to expect coccidiosis, so gave them a course of Coxoid. No dice. She died.

 

Ah, well, we thought. Sad, but these things happen. Then, a couple of months later, we had a repeat performance with one of our ex-bats. One day, pecking around happily, a couple of days later and I'm digging a hole. We thought about it rationally, couldn't see anything we could have done differently, so resigned ourselves to the fact that, as an ex-bat, her time with us was always going to be more of a lottery than with one that hadn't seen an intensive farm. In order to keep our remaining two happy, and replenish our flock, we found a reputable supplier fairly near and bought two more POL hens, and meanwhile we had a chat with our local vet (admittedly not a poultry specialist) to see if we were making any glaring omissions in our husbandry - none as far as he could make out.

 

And now this last fortnight. Our other ex-bat, who had to this point been the most energetic and sociable of all our birds, suddenly keels over onto her back. The space of literally an hour or two sees her decline from full throttle to a parody of the Monty Python Parrot Sketch. And just to keep the ball rolling steadily further downhill, our second Black Rock hasn't laid an egg for about 5 days and has just become obviously lethargic.

 

Now, I've got an appointment with a different vet (which does specialise in poultry) booked for tomorrow morning so I can get some kind of handle on all this. Each of the birds' deaths, taken individually, are explicable, but I can't see how three gone and one more seemingly on the way can be a coincidence. Trouble is that I also can't see what we could be doing wrong that may be the cause.

 

Has ANYONE any ideas? Our birds were all vaccinated before introduction, we're sure they've not got external parasites, we've wormed them several times, the Cube is kept clean (indeed far cleaner than we could ever get anything wooden), the ground of the run has plenty of aubiose, the girls are let out to run around the garden of a weekend, we've periodically given poultry spice in with their water. What the hell else do we need to do to keep these birds alive?

[Egluntyne]

Could be some sort of virus?

 

What have you been feeding them on?

 

Have they been gorging on something like uncooked potato? Rummaging around in the compost heap?

[majorbloodnock]

Well, a virus is all I can think of that seems to make any real sense, but even then why would there be such a delay between first and last deaths?

 

Food-wise, we started on mixed corn with some mixed grit around for them to peck at as well. We've also a stock of layers' pellets, and they end up being fed on whichever is to hand. We do sometimes throw in the odd handful of mealworms, but they're surrounded by a chicken netting fence that keeps them away from both neighbours' gardens and the compost heaps, as well as the flower beds. They do peck at the odd bluebell leaf, and over winter were housed right next to the raspberry canes, but I don't think either of them are toxic are they? Other than that, the only greenery they have is whatever they can find in/on the lawn.

[Egluntyne]

Nothing obvious there, although I would recommend that you cut right back on the corn as it is very fattening and not particularly nutritious, and make the layers pellets the major part of their diet.

[majorbloodnock]

Thanks for the replies, Egluntine

 

Just as an update, I took her to the vet today, and news was mixed. The good news is that, after some fairly extensive questioning, the vet has confirmed that whatever is wrong, it's not the result of our care of the chickens; his impression is that all the preventative and curative steps we've taken, as well as our standard regime, is well above the norm he encounters. That, I'll admit, is reassuring.

 

The bad news is that our hen is nowhere near the condition he'd expect of a bird getting the kind of care we're giving her, and he's no obvious clues to point to an answer of what's wrong. All he can say is that she appears malnourished (easy to feel the breast bone) despite the fact she's always had free access to plenty of the right food and has been through a course of worming in the last 6 months. Therefore, he's given us some vitamins to give our birds and a course of antibiotics to see if they make any difference.

 

So we're going to keep our fingers crossed for a recovery, and if she still curls up her tootsies we'll get a post mortem to try to get a definitive answer.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sorry to hear all this . What a shame the vet couldn't be more certain what's wrong. It must be a relief to know it's nothing you're doing (although we could have told you that ). I hope your girlie doesn't deteriorate any more or, if her time really is up, goes quietly in her sleep .

[chocchick]

Do the chickens get the runs? I know I've had problems with worms and ended up changing the ground the chickens were on and worming every 3 months as found our chicken still suffered with worms despite worming.

Is the food fresh, no rodents or old food? (clutching at straws as doesn't sound like it from your description) not sure you would have damp problems in a cube either.

No poisonous plants?

An infection brought in by one of the birds maybe. They might feel hot if infected.

I can sympathise as lost a few chickens without doing anything wrong (over much longer though) and wondered what I was doing. The thing with chickens is it is near impossible to work out what is wrong as if it is not their crop, or egg related or an injury they just look ill.

I would isolate any birds that look ill just in case it is being passed round and fingers crossed for the vets appointment.

[majorbloodnock]

Thanks again, all.

 

The chickens have indeed sometimes done a few runny droppings from time to time, and the odd orangey-beige one too. However, nothing that's lasted for long before reverting to normal.

 

You're right that the Cube hasn't suffered at all from dampness, although the ground of the run did have a tendency to wetness until we switched to lining it with chopped hemp and put a plastic cover over the top to keep out the bulk of the rain.

 

As far as the food's concerned, it's as fresh as any large bag of pellets/corn can be. We have two large plastic bins in the shed, and whenever one is empty we wash it out. Every time we need to buy a new bag of feed, the bag is emptied into the clean bin (so rats/mice can't get to it) and the empty sack kept for when our potatoes are ready to dig up.

 

I can't absolutely rule out a toxic plant being nibbled somewhere, but we've been pretty thorough in looking around the garden, and the vet thinks that possibility is unlikely. If I'm honest, I'm inclined to guess towards persistent worms being the root of our problem, with the hens becoming sick because it's easier to fall ill if your strength isn't as it should be. Like you, we're clutching at straws, and that's the closest to a feasible explanation I've been able to put together so far. No doubt that means I'm way off, though. Ah, well....

[Egluntyne]

The odd orangey beigy smelly poo is quite normal....it happens around every tenth time. It is just the caecum being cleared out, which doesn't happen each time.

 

Sorry your vet couldn't give you a definitive answer, but hope the treatment does the trick.