Sick Chicken...?

[irvingj]

For sure I'm no expert, but the advice I was given about a lump of food a bit too large is now making a lot of sense- our Wyandotte seems totally fine now.

Patriotic- any possibility your veggie scraps are too big? My wife found a cheap ($20) Black & Decker food chopper, holds maybe a cup, and if I use that on the scraps, they eat everything; if not, larger pieces are left, but they'll still peck at them... and maybe get a piece stuck...? The large piece stuck in the crop sounds very possible.

I'm also adding some "layer-sized" grit to their food now, after seeing them really go for the few bare ground spots in the driveway, looking for dirt/gravel.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

You need to give them oyster shells ground up, it helps produce a good eggshell, without it the shell may be very thin. Small bags are availabe from the feed store, doesn't cost much and just mix a small amount in their food daily.

Chickens eat rocks and bits of stuff, they use this grit in their gizzards to grind up their food as they have no stomach like we do that digests their food. If they are out free and running they get enough from the ground.

 

[firefighter9208]

I have chickens. Rhode Island Reds and Aracauna's. A friend at work gave me two RIR roosters. About a week later I had chickens start to die. They had the same symptoms as your chicken. They slowly (over a couple weeks) went off feed and water. I thought they were molting.

I spoke to a vet friend of mine and he said that it was a respiratory infection. He gave me an antibiotic to put in their water. He told me to lock them in the coup at night without water and then to put the medicated water in with them in the morning to force them to drink it.

After several had died and one of the roosters died I finally killed the other rooster. I gave them another round of medicated water and they slowly began to eat and lay again. I started with 25 and ended up with 15.

I actually went about 4 weeks without getting a single egg.

They are back healthy and laying again. I learned my lesson. No new birds from outside flocks. I want to get some more in the spring, but will order from a hatchery.

Chris

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I saw 2 of mine chugging the antibiotic water tonight. Good idea about giving it to them in the morning. In the winter hours of short daylight I leave the light on all night in the chicken house so they will continue to lay, they need something like 12 hours of daylight to keep laying eggs.

I will do that the next day, several sound better, just one sounds really hacky still. It will be 10 days Sunday, guess I will continue till the 28th. DD and I are off on another cruise, so hubbies the "chicken keeper" while I am gone.

This worked out great. We are getting new kitchen cabinets so he will be tearing the old ones out and the kitchen will be destroyed while I'm gone. I do dread coming home as they won't arrive for him to install till about the 4th, then at least 10 days after they are done to get the countertops. Will be rough going for awhile. Wonder if my cat, dog, and chickens will still be alive when I get home from the cruise. He has never been left in charge, generally my tenant takes care of them. But he is still on furlough, has been since Nov 2nd, and is really chomping at the bit to go back out on a project, this domesticated life is really getting to him.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I think they are fine, they sound good, running all over the place. Gave them their last dose today, day 10, so no more. Going to wait a few days before I eat the eggs to let the antibiotics clear out of them. Got 5 beauties today out of 5 hens, but I pitched them.

And yes the antibiotic packages says do not eat them while being treated.

 

[chrisdvorak]

i just had one die, at first i thought it was a disease but later i found that it had a tumor in the neck and all the food and water it drank went strait to the tumor and made it grow and it starved

 

[firefighter9208]

Chickens need 14 hours of sunlight to lay. I bought a cheap timer at Walmart and set it to come on at 6:00 am and go off at 8:00 pm. That way they have darkness to roost. That also keeps the rooster from crowing at 3:00 AM and the dog from barking and waking up my wife. .

Glad to see your chickens are doing better.

Chris

 

[dooleysm]

I didn't have any luck with extending the day in the morning and evening. They still refused to lay during the dark days of winter. I have the light set to come on at dusk and off at dawn. 24 hours of light keeps them laying well all winter long. I use a single 13W CFL bulb in my 6x9 coop. It doesn't get real bright, especially when it's cold outside, but it does the trick for pennies a month.

 

[firefighter9208]

So far I've had good luck with extending the day. Of course I'm in Alabama and we have fairly mild winters anyway. I'm getting an average of 9 eggs out of 15 hens a day. More than we can use. I sell the extras to offset the cost of feed.

Chris

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I'm turning off the light at night right now. We want to wait about 5 days to get the antibiotics out of their systems anyway and like hubby said why have them laying while doing that. I've been getting 4 and 5 eggs out of 5 chickens. Yes, that's good, more then we can eat really.

DD and I are leaving on a cruise Thursday. Wonder if I will still have chickens when I get back? Only gone 4 days.