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Starting Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 5/11/2008 11:08:50 AM
Posts: 1,
Visits: 3
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Ok this is my first time to post...
We recently bought a house and few acres. There was a chicken coop on the property and the previous owners had kept a few chickens.
It's been vacant for the past few months until a few days ago when we were given some chickens. We cleaned up the coop and everything and didn't think much of putting the chickens right in.
Last night there was a storm and today I went out there and we have a dead chicken.
Now I'm not sure what is the cause of it's is death whether it was the storm and the stress of moving or what. so I started looking up stuff trying to see what could prevent it happening again, and read that what I did was a no-no situation. (new chickens in old pen)
I certainly can't give them back or anything...so I guess what my question is is how can I remedy my mistake and keep my chickens healthy?
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 6:38:30 PM
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| Have there been more deaths? If not, untimely deaths are unfortunately part of poultry-keeping; if only one hen died, you probably aren't looking at flock-wide disease. If I were you, I'd go ahead and clean up the coop even though your chickens are already in it. I like to remove all old bedding and any other type of organic matter, then soak everything using dilute bleach solution (1 part bleach to 24 parts water) sprayed from a pump sprayer. In your case, remove the chickens first, of course, and let everything dry as much as possible before re-bedding it and bringing the chickens back in. I hope this helps. :o) Sue
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Starting Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 5:15:01 PM
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Hi,
I think it's unlikely that your chicken would have contracted a disease from its environment that fast. Perhaps it had something to do with the storm you mentioned or the stress of moving or maybe the chicken was old? If you lose any others, then you might want to consider contacting an avian vet and perhaps have a necropsy done. Sue's advice about cleaning the coop is great -- I would just add that you make sure and rinse the bleach off really well until you can't smell it anymore before returning your chickens, since birds with their efficient respiratory systems are more sensitive to toxic gases.
Good luck with your flock,
Cherie
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