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Original poster

Anoher chicken has died - is it linked to my previous one dying or a separate incidence

17 replies

KatyMac · 27/05/2009 20:22

I got home today and another chicken has died

A chicken died on the 5th May - so are the deaths linked?

Or are they separate deaths iyswim

DD is distraught

OP posts:
Original poster
KatyMac · 27/05/2009 21:44

Bump for help

OP posts:
LucilleMum2OscarandLydia · 27/05/2009 21:45

have you asked a vet?

Original poster
KatyMac · 27/05/2009 21:48

No I didn't find her until after the Vets were closed

I am ringing tomorrow morning but could do with saving the cost of the autopsy tbh

OP posts:
tigana · 27/05/2009 21:51

Hmmm
PILs used to keep chickens...and they kept dying. Turns out it was something in the soil - honestly, some crucial mineral or something was either missing or too prevalent. Apparently they needed to add somethingto the chickens food to rebalance it. But they just stopped keeping chickens and got some ducks ( which the fox killed...so now they are bird-free!)

Original poster
KatyMac · 27/05/2009 22:01

How sad

OP posts:
ingles2 · 27/05/2009 22:05

oh I'm sorry Katy.
Have they been sickening lately? Are they eating ok? have they been deloused etc? How is the poo?
and how old are they?
Sorry there's so many questions but I can't tell much from your op.
Have you looked at Defra?

ingles2 · 27/05/2009 22:06

here's the defra page

Original poster
KatyMac · 27/05/2009 22:09

The other one that died was new (about 3 weeks in our garden) & developed some sort of syndrome affecting her legs then she got campylobacter & the Vet put her down

The one that just died I have had a while (I am trying to work out how long )

They were both OK on Saturday and DH has been feeding them since

He didn't go aout this morning & silkie was dead when he went out this evening

The new ones are less than a year old

The old one is much (but how much?) older

OP posts:
ingles2 · 27/05/2009 22:12

Speak to your vet before taking your bird in Katymac.
You need to ask him if the new bird that died, could have transmitted a zoonotic or avian transmittable disease.
Where did you get the bird from?
I think it's probably coincidence but you should check.

Original poster
KatyMac · 27/05/2009 22:20

OK - I did some research

Silkie arrived at least as early as 2005 (may) & quite possibly the year before. She wasn't a chicken when we got her

So could it be old age? How old can bantams be?

OP posts:
Original poster
KatyMac · 27/05/2009 22:23

Sorry I got the chicken from a local children's farm

OP posts:
Original poster
KatyMac · 27/05/2009 22:24

Actually she was a chicken when we got her....she wasn't a baby chick

OP posts:
jasper · 27/05/2009 22:27

swine flu?

ingles2 · 27/05/2009 22:59

my silkie bantams all died at the 5-6 yr mark Katy. I had 3.
I think that's their natural life span so I'm pretty sure it's just that.
I've got a 8yr old maran bantie who is still going strong, lays regularly still and bosses her daughters and granddaughters around the garden even though they are full size birds and probably 3 times the size of her.

Original poster
KatyMac · 28/05/2009 07:46

Silly isn't it - that we get so het up about a dead bird....I mean at least once a fortnight I roast one

Fingers crossed for old age

OP posts:
Original poster
KatyMac · 28/05/2009 15:14

The vet said it is unlikely to be the same bug as it is 3 weeks apart but we are discussing a quarantine period where we get no more chickens & we see how the one left does

OP posts:
ingles2 · 28/05/2009 17:32

that's good that you spoke to the vet Katy. Fingers crossed it's just coincidence.

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