Zinnia Hens
In the Brooder
- Mar 30, 2025
- 4
- 20
- 31
Lost 2/4 chickens within a month and now shelless eggs? Please help me solve the mystery!
It has been a rough month for the Zinnia Hens.
We started the month with a flock of 4 hens. They were hand-me-down chickens from my brother-in-law. He and his kids raised them from chicks. Spring of 2023 he purchased them from IFA or Tractor Supply? We believe that we had two ISA Brown & two White Leghorn(ish?) breeds?
March 10: My husband went to close up the coop for the night and noticed that Becky (white chicken), our sweetest leader hen, was under our deck rather than in the coop. He took her into the coop, gave her a cuddle and closed it up for the evening
March 11: I go out to the coop to open it up for the day. 3 chickens come prancing out of the coop to free range. I assume Becky is laying an egg & go check the nesting box. It appeared the sweet Becky passed in her sleep. That evening we meticulously cleaned the coop and checked out all our other girls. Everything seemed fine.
March 12-23: Everything was normal. The girls free ranged in our fenced backyard, layed consistently & seemed happy.
March 24: One of our two brown chickens began isolating herself.
No signs of harassment or bullying. Everyone gave her her own space. Her tail was tucked and her feathers puffed up. She would sit under our deck and rest. We checked for egg binding and couldn't feel anything. We gave the whole flock calcium supplements. That evening we gave her an epsom salt bath & set up a chicken hospital/hospice in our mudroom. She seemed calm but not very comfortable.
March 25: That morning she seemed alert & chipper. I let her out to free range with supervision. She enjoyed pecking at the grass and soaking up some sunshine. Her poop was on the soft side but nothing crazy. She wasn't coughing, weezing, breathing hard, eye crusties, no mouth discharge. Her tail was still tucked and sometimes she would puff up her feathers. As the day went on she just wanted to stand by the water & drink. That evening she slept in the house and took it easy.
March 26: She was trying to lay an egg in the morning. She seemed to be straining. Still drinking and eating normally I kept her in the house & monitored her throughout the day. He eventually laid an egg (I even watched it happen). It was pale in comparison to the other eggs we get. Later that evening she was still straining and uncomfortable but no other symptoms. We gave her an epsom salt bath, blow dried her & she settled down for the night in her nesting box. While my husband and I were in bed we heard her ruffle her feathers and we went into check on her and she had passed.
March 27-April 1: Consistent eggs from both remaining chickens. I supervised them as often as I could and they seem to be doing great.
April 2: Egg whites and yoke found in a nesting box with no evidence of shells.
April 3: Egg whites and yoke under the roost. Only my remaining brown chicken sleeps on the roost. The white one sleeps in the nesting box.
April 4: More egg whites and yoke under the roost. This time there is a white sack of sorts? Does anyone know what it is?
The chickens are acting normal, eating egg shells and oyster shells. They are drinking and eating well.
Possibly pertinent information:
We adopted a puppy in January. He is a small dog that does not have access to the chickens but enjoys looking at them through the fence. He doesn't bark or growl at them; he just looks and sniffs in their direction.
My brother in law has 4 lovely kids & two dogs. I believe they gave them a great start to life but the kids were all under the age of 6 when they raised the chicks. The kids were really excited about the chicks and possibly were a stressor to the chicks? Could that have shortened their lifespan? They had about 6 chickens before adding the 4 that I ended up with. They said the 4 I adopted were at the bottom of their pecking order. Could the integration to the new flock have been so stressful it shortened their life?
Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy post <3 What is going on? I'm open to any and all advice!
It has been a rough month for the Zinnia Hens.
We started the month with a flock of 4 hens. They were hand-me-down chickens from my brother-in-law. He and his kids raised them from chicks. Spring of 2023 he purchased them from IFA or Tractor Supply? We believe that we had two ISA Brown & two White Leghorn(ish?) breeds?
March 10: My husband went to close up the coop for the night and noticed that Becky (white chicken), our sweetest leader hen, was under our deck rather than in the coop. He took her into the coop, gave her a cuddle and closed it up for the evening
March 11: I go out to the coop to open it up for the day. 3 chickens come prancing out of the coop to free range. I assume Becky is laying an egg & go check the nesting box. It appeared the sweet Becky passed in her sleep. That evening we meticulously cleaned the coop and checked out all our other girls. Everything seemed fine.
March 12-23: Everything was normal. The girls free ranged in our fenced backyard, layed consistently & seemed happy.
March 24: One of our two brown chickens began isolating herself.
No signs of harassment or bullying. Everyone gave her her own space. Her tail was tucked and her feathers puffed up. She would sit under our deck and rest. We checked for egg binding and couldn't feel anything. We gave the whole flock calcium supplements. That evening we gave her an epsom salt bath & set up a chicken hospital/hospice in our mudroom. She seemed calm but not very comfortable.
March 25: That morning she seemed alert & chipper. I let her out to free range with supervision. She enjoyed pecking at the grass and soaking up some sunshine. Her poop was on the soft side but nothing crazy. She wasn't coughing, weezing, breathing hard, eye crusties, no mouth discharge. Her tail was still tucked and sometimes she would puff up her feathers. As the day went on she just wanted to stand by the water & drink. That evening she slept in the house and took it easy.
March 26: She was trying to lay an egg in the morning. She seemed to be straining. Still drinking and eating normally I kept her in the house & monitored her throughout the day. He eventually laid an egg (I even watched it happen). It was pale in comparison to the other eggs we get. Later that evening she was still straining and uncomfortable but no other symptoms. We gave her an epsom salt bath, blow dried her & she settled down for the night in her nesting box. While my husband and I were in bed we heard her ruffle her feathers and we went into check on her and she had passed.
March 27-April 1: Consistent eggs from both remaining chickens. I supervised them as often as I could and they seem to be doing great.
April 2: Egg whites and yoke found in a nesting box with no evidence of shells.
April 3: Egg whites and yoke under the roost. Only my remaining brown chicken sleeps on the roost. The white one sleeps in the nesting box.
April 4: More egg whites and yoke under the roost. This time there is a white sack of sorts? Does anyone know what it is?
The chickens are acting normal, eating egg shells and oyster shells. They are drinking and eating well.
Possibly pertinent information:
We adopted a puppy in January. He is a small dog that does not have access to the chickens but enjoys looking at them through the fence. He doesn't bark or growl at them; he just looks and sniffs in their direction.
My brother in law has 4 lovely kids & two dogs. I believe they gave them a great start to life but the kids were all under the age of 6 when they raised the chicks. The kids were really excited about the chicks and possibly were a stressor to the chicks? Could that have shortened their lifespan? They had about 6 chickens before adding the 4 that I ended up with. They said the 4 I adopted were at the bottom of their pecking order. Could the integration to the new flock have been so stressful it shortened their life?
Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy post <3 What is going on? I'm open to any and all advice!
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