Hey All,
I've successfully been keeping chickens for a year and a half. I have a small flock of chickens 5 hens and a rooster, now 4 hens... I went out to the run this afternoon and found a dead bird. There were no signs of trauma or predation. We have snow on the ground and I looked around the run and found no predator tracks.
Over the past few weeks I noticed she would hang out by herself away from the flock, at times but not all the time. Aside from that she seemed normal. I didn't see any evidence of mites or anything like that. I last cleaned the coop Thanksgiving weekend; about a month ago.
I noticed some bright green poops in the snow, I've never seen that before. I gave them some red cabbage yesterday, not sure if it's related. Aside from that I feed them a layer feed and give them a handful of mealworms each day. And each morning I give them fermented wheat, oats and sunflowers.
I read up on Marek's disease but I'm not sure. Heart attack? Egg bound? Bird Flu?
I want to keep my birds happy and healthy, I feel like a failure. How can I ensure the health of my remaining birds?
Thanks for reading!
Rich