[mojocafa]

2 hens have died in 2 days.

Both have taken themselves off to a nesting box and died. The first one that died, when I noticed her siting there I said to her it was too early to go broody ( cross silkie) then next morning she was dead. Then pretty much same scenario yesterday with a scots dumpy.

There was no respiratory problems, havent noticed any difference in them, in fact I would have said both were healthy birds.

So coincidence or

Any ideas anyone

[HesterF]

Weird! Sorry, no advice - mine have all appeared ill first. Just  and I hope it was a coincidence.

[chrismahon]

Were these pullets going into first lay Mojocafa? That's a point when inherent heart weakness problems can surface and we have lost some like that. Two must be co-incidence surely.

[mojocafa]

The cross silky no,  is about 3 , the dumpy, I'm not sure of. Only hatched 6 girls last year and didn't ring them to make them identifiable and being cuckoo in colour all look the same!   

[Marches Farmer]

If you have any particularly precious hens it might be an idea to isolate them for a while, in case there's something spreading through your flock.

[goosepimple]

Sorry to hear that mojo, I think poultry and wildfowl get a bit hormonal and 'upset' at this time of year and they can't always cope with that after winter cold and they just want to give up.  Maybe some sunflower seeds, sultanas and a bit of vitamin c will help generally.   

[funkyfish]

Red mite?

[shygirl]

would it be worms? its been a very mild wet winter so I would imagine worms from all species would have had an easy winter on the ground.

[mojocafa]

No sign of red mite and generally worm October and April, so they are due, I was outside chicken watching for quite a while today looking for any kind of symptom in others and they all seem bright, healthy, nice red combs, so  that its nothing to serious, I ill just be paranoid for the next wee while continually checking them out.
My Russians are possibly my precious ones but they are have always been in there own pen. I was going to be setting up pens this weekend for hatching eggs so that will segregate them. 

[goosepimple]

how's it going mojo - everyone happy now?

[mojocafa]

  hoping so, I had one who had a look about her so I isolated her for a few days and this morning she looked fine so was dithering whether to put her back in the flock and left her be but when I checked on them an hour ago she had flown over the gate which is 6ft high from the ground so I reckon I was possibly a bit paranoid but better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for asking
Mojo

[goosepimple]

They're doing a keeping you on your toes reminder for spring    ..... thoughtful of them