What is killing my chickens?

[McChooky]

It might be a good idea to invest in a camera and monitoring your chickens outside.Being near water creates a hot spot for predators to gather.

 

[Loving my girls]

Or have your neighbours been using poison to kill rats Or mice ?
The nasties could have crawled onto your land to die.
I don’t know about your hens but mine are Definitely not vegetarian if you get my drift
Hugz

 

[BDutch]

But... This is SO much grass, etc. This is winter and they mowed down the "saw grass," it's just so much grass...I did my temporary fencing to keep them out of my garden but they have acres and acres of grass and woods and no problems........

View attachment 3780144

I heard people say before that long grass can be a problem, but I think this is only a problem when you cut it and give to the chickens in the run.
If my chickens free range they nibble on grass and pick the fresh ones out. And I give it often on days the chickens cant free range. But I always cut the grass in pieces of about 1 cm (0.4”) with scissors.

I have 5 acres too, and I have a few chicken wire rolls with stakes that I stapled on + some "panels" that I built with fencing wire and horizontal fence boards.

This is a great idea @BankFam if you have chickens that cant fly. You can combine this with a tractor and more limited space too. For most chickens/laying hybrids you need about 1.50 m or 5’ to keep them in. If there are predators around it’s recommended to use electrified netting.

 

[BankFam]

Awe, I feel so bad for you to get discouraged about them enjoying your property. It's really not that common and I bet you will find the source of the problem as you continue to investigate. It's easy to make temporary, daytime fencing to limit where they range (easier than a tractor.) I have 5 acres too, and I have a few chicken wire rolls with stakes that I stapled on + some "panels" that I built with fencing wire and horizonal fence boards. I basically divide my property in half to let them range where I want them based on season. But also to keep them from wandering to far where we dont have fencing (the River side. I don't know what they could encounter beyond our property and I've heard that neighbors have poison out.... Don't beat yourself up, you're just trying to do the right thing, they SO enjoy free-ranging.

Thanks for the tips and encouragement. I was feeling so defeated and guilty for a while I couldn't even enjoy the chickens that were left. I think they must have been depressed too, losing their sisters. But seeing them happy and perky now, laying their eggs and enjoying their dust baths really brightens my day!

 

[BankFam]

Thank you very much everyone! It has been very helpful discussing this with you. This is what I'm thinking:

Although it is possible they were eating infected rodents, I think the most likely scenario is that we were causing impacted crop by letting the kids feed them grass through the fence. It breaks my heart to think we were directly causing the problem, but it helps a lot to know that it is easily controllable. It didn't occur to me before that it would be an issue because a friend of ours with chickens was encouraging the kids to feed theirs grass all day long. My poor chickies.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Thank you very much everyone! It has been very helpful discussing this with you. This is what I'm thinking:

Although it is possible they were eating infected rodents, I think the most likely scenario is that we were causing impacted crop by letting the kids feed them grass through the fence. It breaks my heart to think we were directly causing the problem, but it helps a lot to know that it is easily controllable. It didn't occur to me before that it would be an issue because a friend of ours with chickens was encouraging the kids to feed theirs grass all day long. My poor chickies.

Maybe find something your kids can feed them? So their not left out. A treat of sort that you can monitor. I use to try giving ours dandelions I found in the yard. Same with my nieces and nephew. Once we started letting them out they could care less about them lol

 

[McChooky]

Thank you very much everyone! It has been very helpful discussing this with you. This is what I'm thinking:

Although it is possible they were eating infected rodents, I think the most likely scenario is that we were causing impacted crop by letting the kids feed them grass through the fence. It breaks my heart to think we were directly causing the problem, but it helps a lot to know that it is easily controllable. It didn't occur to me before that it would be an issue because a friend of ours with chickens was encouraging the kids to feed theirs grass all day long. My poor chickies.

Unfortunately I didn't know either and did it to mine when I first got them and had at least one starve to death with the same symptoms

 

[BDutch]

It breaks my heart to think we were directly causing the problem, but it helps a lot to know that it is easily controllable. It didn't occur to me before that it would be an issue because a friend of ours with chickens was encouraging the kids to feed theirs grass all day long. My poor chickies.

Many (most) chicken keepers makes mistakes in the first couple of years. Most of us learn and improve in caring and feeding in the right way. Good not to give up now. It will get better!

I know how hard it is to loose chickens too because I made mistakes too. E.g. The first year I had chicks fenced in a 5x5 cm maze panel. Thought the chicks were safe. But one went missing. Next day I saw a chick go through the fence. The other probably managed to go through and might have was taken by a cat.

Some ideas for extras. Don’t give much, more like a treat. All together no more than 25 -30% of what they eat.:

• Cut grass in small pieces.
• Pieces of apple or other fruit
• Dried mealworms.
• Grain mix
• Corn and sunflower seeds
• Leftovers from dinner if not salty, not fat and not sweetened.
• Mine love spaghetti and rice.
• Old bread

 

[BankFam]

Many (most) chicken keepers makes mistakes in the first couple of years. Most of us learn and improve in caring and feeding in the right way. Good not to give up now. It will get better!

I know how hard it is to loose chickens too because I made mistakes too. E.g. The first year I had chicks fenced in a 5x5 cm maze panel. Thought the chicks were safe. But one went missing. Next day I saw a chick go through the fence. The other probably managed to go through and might have was taken by a cat.

Some ideas for extras. Don’t give much, more like a treat. All together no more than 25 -30% of what they eat.:

• Cut grass in small pieces.
• Pieces of apple or other fruit
• Dried mealworms.
• Grain mix
• Corn and sunflower seeds
• Leftovers from dinner if not salty, not fat and not sweetened.
• Mine love spaghetti and rice.
• Old bread

Thanks!

I do give them treats periodically from the kitchen. I Google if it's safe for chickens first and try not to give too frequently. And they have a couple little treat balls to play with when I give them soldier fly larvae or sunflower seeds.

 

[McChooky]

Thank you very much everyone! It has been very helpful discussing this with you. This is what I'm thinking:

Although it is possible they were eating infected rodents, I think the most likely scenario is that we were causing impacted crop by letting the kids feed them grass through the fence. It breaks my heart to think we were directly causing the problem, but it helps a lot to know that it is easily controllable. It didn't occur to me before that it would be an issue because a friend of ours with chickens was encouraging the kids to feed theirs grass all day long. My poor chickies.

If you have a large fenced yard you run the same risk because they'll eat things they shouldn't there too.The only chickens that rarely have crop issues are free range chickens.They can afford to be picky