Kitchen Garden Forum

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can help me? Our 2-year-old hybrid chicken has just given up the ghost, leaving two very unhappy children. We are left with two others, who are fit and well (chicken that is!)

The question I have is why did it die? It was not the best of layers from the start. We actually purchased the bird from the Domestic wildfowl trust 6 months ago at point of lay. Sadly much to my dismay, when I phoned the DWT the lady I spoke to was extremely unhelpful and downright defensive. ‘We can’t be responsible for the bird after so long’ I hasten to add I won’t be going there to replace any chickens in the future.

To give you an idea of what the bird was like, it started laying shell-less eggs, which when I contacted the DWT reassured me was normal and she would start laying properly, which she did, although she would deliver the odd shell-less one now and again. Over the last four weeks she had stopped laying altogether, which I put down to the winter light. (The other two are still laying by the way.) This last weeks or so however, she started laying shell-less again in a very erratic nature, none for a couple of days then 3 in one.

The birds more or less have free run of ¼ ache of land with a mix of household scraps, laying pellets, mixed seed and anything they dig up in the garden. I provided grit in the meal as well.

If anyone has any clues, my children would be most grateful to know why Tallulah (the grey bird in the photo) is sleeping in the bottom of a hole at the end of the garden.

Many thanks

Phil

Condolences Phil
At the risk of now appearing unfeeling, all I can say is that chickens are strange creatures. They are certainly prone to a host of potential ills, but with good management, such as you are giving them, they rarely suffer from anything identifiable.
Over the past seven years I have had a variety of birds, bought-in point-of-lay, bought-in chicks and home hatched chicks. In each of these groups I have had some die at an early age, some look sick and then recover, some die at a year old, and others (the majority) go on for ever apparently even after stoppping laying.
If you are keeping chickens as pets loss is distressing, but just one of those things. If your livelihood depends on it things are more worrying. Few vets know anything about poultry, and care less. It is horrendously expensive to find out you have an incurable bird - which its death tells you that for nothing.
My best advice would be to get some more birds, but beware, there are problems at first when you introduce a new bird.
I'm sorry this doesn't answer your question why did it die. But Post Mortems are the only way to find out - and they cost a fortune.

Thanks Alan, actually one of the kids asked whether we could eat her!! Obviously kids only suffer from short term bereavement.

Thanks for replying.

Phil

Very sorry to hear about your chicken. It's not uncommon though - chickens are very good at covering up their illness and will soldier on pretending nothing is wrong and then just suddenly drop down dead.

Post mortems aren't really an option - too expensive.
The saying 'where's there's livestock - there is always deadstock' is very true and just one of those things.
BTW now is a good time to worm your remaining hens (use Flubenvet).
If you do decide to get more hens - get at least two more and keep them separate, but within view of the originals, for at least a fortnight before introducing them at night.

Phil B wrote:Hello,.....Our 2-year-old hybrid chicken has just given up the ghost, ....
We actually purchased the bird from the Domestic wildfowl trust 6 months ago at point of lay.

Am I being stupid here, but my fingers and toes make that the birds second laying year?

Does that mean an ex-battery bird?

If so therein lies the explanation of its death, worn-out before you got it.

Now you've got me there, I just presumed a chicken that is point of lay is around 18 months old. As you can tell I'm certainly no expert; put it this way when I purchased them from The Domestic Fowl lot, it was at point of lay, in that it didn't start laying for a couple of weeks. She looked pretty young to me but then so does Joan Collins from a distance.

Phil

Hello Phil
Sorry to hear of your loss. From what you say about her erratic egg laying, it sounds as though she may have had some internal problem. It won't have been your fault and there's nothing you can do in these situations. I've had a number of chickens over many years and you do occasionally get the odd one that not quite right inside and dies early.
If you looking for a replacement I'd suggest a Black Rock. Apart from their great glossy dark plumage, they're excellent layers, friendly and thrive when allowed to roam like your birds do. Never had any health problems with them.

John

PS As Diane says chickens are very good at hiding their problems. As soon as a bird shows any unusual signs it should be thoroughly checked over because the problems is likely to be much more serious than it appears.

Each breed is different, they lay when they're ready but it's usually around the 6 month mark.

I also had two beautiful Gold Lace Wyandottes which I hatched from eggs bought from the Domestic Wildfowl Trust, who both died young. One keeled over at 7 months and the other a year later. No symptoms just there one minute and gone the next. Their siblings were fine and lived a good many years

Hello again Phil
You'll always get a few replies to chicken queries here but another good place to try is the forum of Practical Poultry mag.

http://www.practicalpoultry.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl

This is an active forum with lots of useful chicken stuff on it. In one section there, called Poultry Mart/Trading feedback (page 2), there are some postings on the Domestic Fowl Trust. People seem to have had similar experiences to you. It changed hands a few years ago and appears to have gone downhill.

Buying new stock is always a bit hit and miss. I once went to a specialist breeders place to buy a few Marans, mainly for their dark brown eggs. I thought that I did all the right things, looked around, checked for egg colour and so on but the birds turned out to be useless. Don't be put off though, mostly you'll be able to get good stock from poultry places. The ones that specialise in a few breeds or hybrids are the best.

John

Thank you all, it has been most helpful.

Phil