[Ma Lowe]

I need some help please.

We had 3 chickens on wednesday afternoon and by thursday one of them was standing with tail down by today she is not breathing right.
I have rang the boy that sold them to me and all I get from him is that they were ok when they left him yet it was just over 24hrs after bringing her back here she started to be poorly. We are inexperienced chicken keepers are learning a hard lesson as to who to buy from. We should have really walked away from this person but we didn't.
The three of them have been separated from my other 4 chickens so I juszt hope that whatever it is they haven't caught it.

Where do I stand for taking these chickens back. Also I was told they were POL they are weeks away from this so to me this is selling something not as described.

[Vember]

Hiya Ma

Did you discuss with the person on the phone about taking them back? Or weren't you able to get that far

I think it may be best to find (just in case) a vet who deals with poultry then if needs be you can get antibiotics for your girls, might even be worth getting some anyway

As far as I'm aware you have 14 days to take anything back chickens included, I would get back on the phone to him asap

Hope things go ok for you


Sarah

[Aunt Sally]

You should insist he refunds your money and takes the birds back (easier said than done).  Don't let the seller try to intimidate you, take a big man with you when you take them back (borrow one if you don't have your own).

[Ma Lowe]

The sick bird died on the way back to the seller.  They won't take the birds back or give us our money back. IO do not want these birds back here as they will be infected too.

I really wish I had never got anhy chickens now. It may have been the best thing some of you have done but it has been the worst thing I have done and very upsetting.

[nzdunn]

The same thing happened to me when i first got chickens, i got two girlies on the friday evening, all healthy and well and then on the sunday they had runny noses, blowing bubbles out of their eyes, although it wasnt that bad, rang the breeder and on the monday he came down with treatment for them, week later they were as right as rain, he did say to me that it could have been bought on by stress of the move to their new home, but that might not be the case in your circumstances, didnt you take a chicken back to him aswell because she wasnt right, i agree with aunt sally,  i would take a drive down there and speak to him person to person, but take someone with you.   Good luck hun   nickyx

[nzdunn]

sorry scrape my last post ma lowe, im soooooo sorry for wots happened, try not to feel like that hun, your other birds may not be infected as you dont know wot the bird died of, you have done so well you and your hubby in getting the coup built and wot amazing work your hubby has done, dont give up hun, big hugs to you   nickyx

[Ma Lowe]

No nicky this is a differnt breeder who advertises on this forum.  I am at a loss of what to do  

[snowflake]

Stress can make hens ill, reading your other posts you got them on Wed and put them with your other hens who bullied them so did they manage to eat and drink at all? .
Now they have a pen of their own they should come round in a couple of days.
Your sick hen could be the very bottom of the pecking order perhaps a bit of tlc try to get her to drink and eat something.
POL hens I have heard some sellers selling  them from15 weeks old, ring the chap up and ask just how old they are and if they have been wormed.

[nzdunn]

how many birds are you left with now and how many are showing any kind of illness, wot symptoms are they showing, it could just be the one bird, and not knowing wot it died of yes its difficult but it might not have been infectious.   nickyx

[snowflake]

soo sorry to hear of you loss, just keep an eye on your others

[Ma Lowe]

I have my original 4 who all seem fine  then there was the 3 from the other breeder one of which has died. They were alltogether for 2 nights but then we separated them even though we don't really have the facilities to do this for a long period.

Hubby is on his way back with the 2 birds what the hell do we do now.
I really didn't expect to have to be going to the vets  and all this trouble from the first week this has really put me off.

[nzdunn]

you need to take a deep breath hun, this bird that died might have just had something wrong with it as i said before it might not be infectious, if the other two girls are fine then keep them separated as you had done before from your other 4 girls and just monitor them over the next few days, if they start to display any symptoms then yes you are gonna have to ring a vet and possibly get antibiotics, mine have just been on baytril as two of my girls has a bit of a snotty nose, it cost me £2.oo for treatment and they responded very well to the treatment, your just gonna have to keep an eye on them and fingers crossed everything will be fine for you, try and stay positive.  nickyx

[Ma Lowe]

Thanks Nicky I will. I just get so upset when they are ill and as we are new to all this I panic. 
Can anyone tell me what I should do with the dead hen please. Poor thing.

[lucylou]

hi ma! please dont be put off - you have a lovely set up and it will be alright in the end.  i had the same thing happen within 2 weeks of getting my first ones.  had to have mine put to sleep and then just wait to see if ither one ok with antibitics, luckily she was. i felt sick that i had made a bad decision to get them & didnt know what to do. OH kept saying he thought that keeping hens was meant to be easy & relaxing etc.  As i said, youve got a lovely set up & it is just bad luck & doesnt mean it will happen again.  keep going on this site for moral support (which is wat i did) and good luck. lucy lou

[Foxy]

This is very disturbing, a good breeder should always take birds back, and if one became ill within 24hours, with the symptoms you describe there is a risk that the bird had some sort of infection.

This is  absolutely unacceptable that you have not been offered a refund plus the fact they have refused to take the birds back.

Roughly how many birds did they have? What sort of set up? Sounds like a little visit by Defra might be what they need