Sick chickens

[Nutso]

I am so frustrated by our chickens. They are dying left and right. They get all shaky and sickly looking and within 24-48 hours they are dead. I got some antibiotic recently hoping that will help, but it isn't. Yesterday we had 2 that were pecked to death and 2 more that we got out just in time. We got them through Tractor Supply...I will never do that again. They are all different types and some are just so aggressive.

Pat was real sick a few weeks back with Salmonella Poisoning...the Dr.s did a bunch of tests and they said it was the same strain that was making people sick in 15 states and it was from chickens (not nuts or spinich)...so we were talking today about our newest sick chicken and thought that if it dies to send it in for testing.....if all the chickens that are making people sick came from Tractor Suplly...I guess we have a few hospital bills for them to pay!!!

So does anyone have any advice for us.....what might be making them sick??? Should we eat them??? Should we just put them in the freezer for Pat's trapping bait??? HELP!!!!

[hillbillyken]

could you give me some symptoms..age...please be descriptive on everything you see, stool, eating habits ,etc. I have a pretty good chicken book so maybe I can help...I HOPE!...HB Ken

[patricimo54]

We too bought our chickens from TSC. New to the chicken industry, we bought the Reds.( I am beginning to believe mantella that these birds are chicken terrorist) I hadn't built a coop or yard yet, but had built a 3'x 8' quail hutch which we utilized as housing for our young chickens as we were waiting for our quail eggs for incubation. We took a trip to Indiana and while gone received word that, first one then a second chicken had been pecked to death. Over crowding was the issue. Once we separated the birds 4 in one container 6 in the hutch all the pecking stopped. I don't know if this will help, but, over crowding may be part of your problem.

[bigpat]

Ken I'll give you the best description I can. They are about 10 weeks old, give or take. There are different breeds, which is part of the pecking problem. The smaller ones are just more aggressive. They have plenty of room. They have a wire floor, about 30" off the ground, so they stay pretty clean. They are eating and drinking plenty, and I haven't seen any problems with diarrhea. A couple weeks ago one was obviously sick. It couldn't get up and was shaking. The next day it was dead. Then another a few days later. We started an antibiotic in their water about a week ago. There's still one that acts sick, but it hasn't died yet. All of the ones that have died have been the biggest ones, which I think are White Leghorns. All of the smaller ones seem perfectly healthy.

[Nutso]

Well a guy from the state came and swabbed our chicken today. They will let us know what the problem is. We had 3 more die in the past 2 days (2 by pecking). I talked to my Dad about it and he said that if there are a lot of mosquitoes, they will peck a lot. At this point, it's not even worth it to butcher and freeze. Since they have been so sick, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to cook and eat any of them ...so it is just a waste of freezer space. They just might end up on the trap line!!

[Admin]

If your chickens are getting sick and dieing I certainly wouldn't eat them
Maybe they have that slamminella that Pat had

[bigpat]

Anybody up for chicken barbecue at the Bash?

[badger]

Jul 2, 2009 19:44:52 GMT -5 bigpat said:

Anybody up for chicken barbecue at the Bash?

I'd say keep them for the trapline!