Hello! I've been a lurker for the last couple years and just signed up to post since my 3 hens (out of 5) are 4yrs old and we are getting new chicks this month for the first time. We adopted the girls we have now from a friend who was moving away. They were almost 2. They are red sex links and came from the local Amish. I've had health issues with all of them at some point and lost 2 last year (age 3) - one with water belly and the other we aren't sure. She stopped eating feed, drinking a lot... I tried a gamut of things and nothing worked. Looking back, maybe worms? I've never dewormed them. The safeguard or whatever it is seems to not be fire a flock under 22lbs so I don't know what to give them. She was at the bottom of the pecking order and often had raggedy feathers on her back but I never saw anyone peck her or worms in their poop. No blood either. I have treated with corid for coccidiosis once or twice... It did seem to help when we thought we needed to use it.
I have 1 that still lays and seems to be pretty active and healthy. One stopped laying after a molt the year we got them but had acted fine. She has watery poop now and stands puffed up a lot but then she'll be active and crazy. She eats and drinks... Actually has been drinking more. The 3rd one has water belly. We know it's a matter of time. We drain her and give her flock fixer, it helps for a bit... But now, she's really going down hill. Not eating feed. Only wants grass and water... And some grubs. It also seems the 2 chickens that need flock fixer don't want to drink it anymore.
I know these are high production breeds and have read that 4 is fairly old for them but I keep thinking we are doing something wrong. Or maybe they weren't bred well. I don't know. I just don't want this to happen with our new chicks that we ordered through a hatchery and are not high production.
I'm pretty positive we have good husbandry and biosecurity. We are making some adjustments to the run before the chicks go out there but I'm just curious if anyone with experience could offer some insight/advice.
I have 1 that still lays and seems to be pretty active and healthy. One stopped laying after a molt the year we got them but had acted fine. She has watery poop now and stands puffed up a lot but then she'll be active and crazy. She eats and drinks... Actually has been drinking more. The 3rd one has water belly. We know it's a matter of time. We drain her and give her flock fixer, it helps for a bit... But now, she's really going down hill. Not eating feed. Only wants grass and water... And some grubs. It also seems the 2 chickens that need flock fixer don't want to drink it anymore.
I know these are high production breeds and have read that 4 is fairly old for them but I keep thinking we are doing something wrong. Or maybe they weren't bred well. I don't know. I just don't want this to happen with our new chicks that we ordered through a hatchery and are not high production.
I'm pretty positive we have good husbandry and biosecurity. We are making some adjustments to the run before the chicks go out there but I'm just curious if anyone with experience could offer some insight/advice.
