[karlooben]

i see to be going though my girlies at quite a rate { well in a chicken sense of the word } yesterday i had one that looked quite down an she seemed to stay in the corner of the house alot , well this morning she was looking worse but by this afternoon she had died , i cant understand why .

i picked her up at 2,30 pm when i got home from work as she had managed to  get outside but it was cold so i put her in the laying house with deep straw thinking it would keep her warm tell i got home but i was to late . i cant understand why they seem to be dropping dead  think i have lost 6 now .
this week i am hoping to find out if i get permission for my quarantine run but i may as well seperate the laying house of for a few weeks an just get 5 more ex batts as and when i can .

[Jellyhead]

Why dont you take one to the vet and ask for an autopsy Looby. My friend had one on her chook and it only cost 12 euros.

So sorry for your loss....big hugs from over here

[staffschicks]

I agree, I can't think that this is just bad luck and I would suspect that the problem is the same with them all.  A vet visit might seem expensive but if it saves the rest of your chickens it might be worth it.  Do you have a chicken friendly vet as it will only be worth it if he vet knows his chicken pathology.

[poultrygeist]

Bad news Looby. DIdn't realise you'd lost so many. I'd go with the vet advice too and find out what's wrong. As said, if it's something contagious, they'll all have it by now.

Do they all look normal, healthy and layign ok ??

Rob

[karlooben]

they are all laying well an defaintly eating well , all running around scratching etc . i will call my vet tomorw an ask them how much an autopsy will be . i cant take this girl in as i left her for the fox ...naughty i know  . its not like they are dying each week but i have lost 6 since i got them in august and i was told that if i still had my original 14 by the spring time then i would of been very very lucky.
thing is i cant work out if it was tassles { she was a fav } when i first got her she was nothing but a few feathers an skin an bone but with this moult she had grown a lovely coat of feathers but she had gone a paler orange an looked similar to one of the others so i could not tell them apart .

i do worry as i wont to rescue 5 or 6 more over time but i dont know now wehter to mix them with the originals .

i did use daitom on them  the other day to de-lice them could that of had something to do with it ?

[raeburg]

That's a shame, at least she's had a nice last few months tho.  The ex-bats can just be worn out from such intensive egg laying.  One of mine has been segregated cos she had been pecked badly on her bum, loads of blood, tiny wound No feathers as she has decided to moult!
Came home this afternoon after taking my daughter for a hospital appointment and no sign of Alice Cooper (hen) in the isolation pen.  How she go out I do not know, but she had taken over the silkies house and was happily perched in there with them!

[agapanthus]

Is'nt leaving the carcass out for the fox inviting trouble...or is it just me??
Sorry, but if I had birds dying like that I would have gone to the vet straight away after the first death....to try and save the other birds. Sorry if that's a bit brutal, but that's what I think.

[karlooben]

it isnt brutal for u to say that agapanthus , i know now for the next time it happens i will take them to the vet right away . but i have had farmers who i know very well tell me that i will lose some wether its though illness or them just dying and when i say i take them to the vet depending on whats wrong i tend to get laughed at for doing it.

4 i lost from them having got a cold an the antiboitics didnt work quick enough , this one yesterday may of just got cold an damp but who knows .

[staffschicks]

I felt a bit uncomfortable taking mine to the vets i suppose i was worried because most people think that as it's cheaper to replace a chicken than take it to the vet it means more money than sense.  When i got there I met a woman coming out with her chicken and the vet was great - but I had stumbled on the only vet in the practice with any interest in chickens.  I think it is worth checking out your vet before you go as many don't have much experience with poutry and if you do go and it's a large practice you can choose who you see.

[Aunt Sally]

If you post the details of your chickenny vet I add it to our vets sticky !

The old idea that it's a waste of money to take a chicken to see a vet is a very deeply ingrained one in some sectors.  A rescue cat is not an expensive pet but who would hesitate in taking it to the vets if it was sick ?  Likewise with children's hamsters, and mice etc.  Would you tell your child it was too cheap a pet to bother taking it to the vet ?

[andreadon]

Two of ours have had a trip to the vet - it's definitely worth the bother - especially if, like karlooben, a number die, because you can find out if there's a contagious disease.
It's all very well your farmer friends laughing at you, but if it were their livestock, they would do the same because you don't want your entire farm going down with the same thing.  It's less expensive in the long run to get them checked out properly.

ps: they do enjoy the outing, too! 

[cathangirl]

Aunt Sally,
I have checked with our Veterinary Practice (several Vets) and their chicken Vet is:
Mr Starnes.  The practise  is at Fairfield House, New Town, UCKFIELD, E. Sussex, TN22  ...
Telephone Number  01825 764268
cathangirl

[karlooben]

i spoke to a vet nurse at the vets where i go and she also keeps chickens , she has said that its not really worth having a post mortem done as 3  out of the 6 that died had that cold  back in december i think it was and the other   3 just died  were as if they all just died with no showing spytoms  then maybe its worth having done but she said it will be prettty costly { money i dont have } .

shes told me of some more tonics an when to worm them etc an what to use which is the same as what u guys have said in the past .

[shiatsusu]

Could it be a virus looby? Virus' can sit in a person's spine for 6 months with very few symptoms present then strike when immunity drops ie you get cold or are under stress- i imagine it could be similar for a chook, and it sounds like your's have had a virus circulating since dec.