Hayboo Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 I am hoping someone can help me, I am new to chicken keeping and have 6 bantam breeds of hens. They are all young and have not started laying yet. Yesterday morning I went down to their shed and found one of my little white ones dead. She had been fine the day before and showed no sign of illness and had been eating and drinking. There were no signs of injury or trauma on her body so assumed it was a underlying natural cause. This morning I went down and found another white one dead, the sister of the first. Same circumstances as before, was fine last night but dead by morning. I am now very worried about my other 4 girls. My concern is that it is something contagious but no chicken disease I have googled is symptomless. Anyone experienced this before? I thought that perhaps the first one was ready to lay and was egg bound but I couldn't feel anything. They all live in a big shed with a large yard to the side where they spend the day roaming and digging and are locked up in the shed at night. I can't see any obvious poisonous plants, they are fed on layers pellets and grit with the occasional treat. I originally had bought 3 hens from a breeder but 2 grew up to be cockerels! So a week and a half ago the boys went back and were replaced by 2 hens, on the same day we also picked up our 3 little white girls from a friend of a friend. Prior to this my hen and 2 boys had lived perfectly happily in this run for at least 6/7 weeks. Yet a week on from getting 4 new hens we have had 2 deaths in 2 days? If anyone can shed any light on why this might be happening I would be very grateful, I don't want to find anymore dead chickens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 That's a bit worrying Hayboo. Were their combs pale? I ask this because the first thing I thought of was red mite. In a chronic infestation, with young birds, they can suck them dry overnight. This is the season when red mite are at their worst. They multiply very quickly indeed. The other thing I thought of was botulism. If they have found any dead mice and eaten maggots from them? Had a case of that on another forum where the owner used to throw the mice he'd caught in traps into the hedgerow where the chickens were feeding. He lost two hens in quick succession and then a third went off her legs. It can cause total paralysis. If the feathers fall out easily is an indicator. It could be a hereditary problem highlighted with them coming into lay. We had a Cream Legbar develop tumours at that point. Could be co-incidence and both deaths are unrelated? You don't say how old they are or what you have fed them. Is it possible they have had layers pellets far too early? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayboo Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 Thanks for you reply. I cannot see any evidence of mites on the dead birds or in the coop but I think I will give them a mite treatment anyway as a precaution. I haven't seen any dead rodents but they have been given free range of the garden at times so I guess it's possible they could have come across one. I am concerned however that they have gone onto layers pellets too soon. They were on growers pellets but the shop assistant in the pet store told me they would be fine to go onto layers once my current stock of growers ran out, they are now around 18/19 weeks and been on layers since the cockerels left and the 5 new hens arrived at around 16/17 weeks. I have now read that they shouldn't have layers until they have laid their first egg. I am now going to swap them back onto growers and hope that wasn't the cause, would hate to think they died because of something I did. My 3 white hens are related so if the remaining white dies and the others are ok then I guess it is likely to be an hereditary issue. Just keeping my fingers crossed that no more die, I'm not sure I can cope with devastated children for a 3rd morning in a row. Thanks again. Hayley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 It is a bit early to go onto layers Hayboo. Some switch at 18 weeks but we leave it until the first egg. However having layers at 16 weeks I wouldn't have expected the effect to be death. The problem is long term liver and kidney damage. In young chicks it will be quickly fatal, later on it will impact on general development. If the third one dies at least you know what the problem is, even though the kids will be upset! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
