Hi I have a friend somethin seems to be goin wrong with his chickens, cut a long story short ur ha a few ponds in his smallish back garden, all his fish died 2 weeks ago for UNKNoWN reason however when he emptied his pond there was a dead rat at the bottom, we thought this is more likely cause of the death of the fish, so he cleaned and refilled pond, since then , the chicks have started getting scruffy feathers and baldy in places, all 10 chickens are girls and he's lucky if he gets 10 eggs a week of the lot of them , and last week a chucked died, again for unknown reason and again 3 day ago another died?? Any ideas of what this could be, asap help please, thanks you
Friends chickens loosing feathers / not laying, an 2 have di
- Thread starter Paddy_c20
- Start date
VALBURNHAM
New member
check for red mite
chrismahon
Well-known member
Agree with Val. The rat was probably poisoned so it poisoned the pond -I won't use poison for that reason as there are too many potential side effects. That is most probably coincidental to the hens problem. Check for red mite but they may all be moulting anyway (hence not laying) so are quite weak and vunerable to illness.
foxy
Active member
Paddy they could have died of all sorts of things, very difficult to know really without examining a bird or performing a post on them. Yes, they probably are moulting or going into a moult, that's fairly certain, and it can take it out of the birds.
First port of call is basic husbandry, checking for external signs ..pale comb, light in weight, hunched or huddled. Look for signs of ilness...sniffles, sneezing, wheezing, swollen eyes, nasal discharges that would indicate a trip to the vets.
Clean disinfect house, check for mite both on the birds and in the house.
First port of call is basic husbandry, checking for external signs ..pale comb, light in weight, hunched or huddled. Look for signs of ilness...sniffles, sneezing, wheezing, swollen eyes, nasal discharges that would indicate a trip to the vets.
Clean disinfect house, check for mite both on the birds and in the house.
chrismahon
Well-known member
As Foxy says, but a look at the poos is a good guide. Should be firm with white partial surface coating, which is the wee component. Colour dark brown. If it's green has an infection or virus, if its too runny possible other problems. So if the poos are wrong a vet is the best option. But with this year being particularly bad for red mite that would be the first check as they will suck the blood from the hens until the hens die.
