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[2Chiqs]

My two hybrid hens died swiftly within 24 hours. Their symptoms included lack of interest in food, hunching over, closed eyes and watery yellow/green diahorea. The younger one had a black crust on the lower part of her comb, which I thought initially was mud, but it dried into a scab. I had wormed them both and treated them against coccidiosis within the last two weeks, and also tried feeding them natural yogurt/cider vinegar/honey combination with very dilute Dioralyte solution, at first in other food then eventually by syringe feeding. I fear the older one, Pandora, had other complications, possibly a tumour or something as she had been unwell over a long period and never maintained her body weight, but the younger one, only 2 years old and a very good layer, was fit, strong and robust, yet died first.

We want to get two more hens to replace them as soon as possible, but the supplier has questioned whether this is sense so soon, due to cross-contamination. The chickens are free-range and we have thoroughly cleaned and disinfected their run and Eglu and the places they most often pooed in. Other than that I am not sure what else we can do. Someone said that migratory birds can bring diseases at this time of year, or there could have been something that poisoned them, but there is nothing growing at the moment that they haven't eaten already, unless Hartstongue Fern is poisonous, and they shouldn't drink from the small pond? I would really appreciate some advice and I would hate to introduce new birds into a contaminated area, yet we will never know exactly what killed them without a postmortem, which we will not do.

[Chucky Mama]

Sorry to hear your news Mine free range all day and rightly or wrongly I leave it to the chickens to know what it right for them to eat. For example, we have quite a few varieties of euphorbia in our garden and they have never gone near it. Wild birds can bring in disease which can't really be avoided. I have however moved my bird feeders from the back to the front garden.

[Plum]

Unfortunately enteritis is a secondary infection that can follow coccidiosis and this may have taken your girls

[2Chiqs]

In the future is there anything I can do or give the chickens if I see similar diarrhoea symptoms? Are there any herbal preventative medicines for "good gut health" around, or is it just one of those things that chickens either survive or die from? I gave both the sick chickens a live yogurt/cider vinegar/honey mixture when they were ill - is this something I should think of giving healthy chickens regularly, say once a week in their food, to maintain good gut health, or is that a waste of time?

Three new chickens arrive this afternoon - I can't wait, but I want to give them as good a start and life as possible. I have felt very helpless over the past few days/weeks with the sick chickens, and I want to be able to actively do something!

[Chucky Mama]

There are probiotics such as Avipro & Protexin. Bokashi Bran is also good for drying things up. If you know that you are likely to be stressing them for any reason you can give Probiotics or a tonic such as Lifeguard. I am not a fan of supplementing for the sake of it but there is definitely a place for it in times of stress. None of these things will make the difference between life and death though so you would not have been able to save your girls had you used them. Good luck with your new girls.

[Olly]

So sorry to hear of your experience. As far as poisonous plants are concerned, I have yet to come across a case of hens actually being affected by eating any - they do seem to know what to eat and what not, and even if they do tuck into something like rhubarb it doesn't seem to have any ill-effect. Mine also prefer to drink from scummy plant saucers of water etc.

 

It's hard to know what caused the death of your hens, but I'd endorse what ChuckyMama says above. Try not to worry too much, you did all you could and it's fairly unlikely that it was something that is surviving in the run or surrounding area.