Necropsy report, now what?

Hello, I posted a few days ago about a couple of chickens that died. I've noticed a couple sneezing as well, so I thought there was a respiratory thing going around. My first chicken died and I buried her, when the next one died about a week later, I figured I should get a necropsy. Here are the results they just emailed me:

"Feed material, especially long strands of grass, had filled the proximal small intestine and caused a blockage,
preventing proper movement of ingesta through the tract. This resulted in back-up of food in stomachs and
ongoing weight loss plus some dehydration.
If this was a free-range bird it is difficult to discourage the consumption of long grass, other than to cut it so it is
less available. The bird also appeared to have insufficient grit in the gizzard; this can lead to inadequate grinding of
feed and predispose to impaction. Ureters are dilated and filled with white urates. This material is found in cloaca and distal gastrointestinal tract. Cecal worms-1 cm long white worms are located in each cecum"

I am overjoyed this is not mycoplasma or coccidia, which is what I was thinking. But I'm still unsure of what killed my other chicken or why I am hearing them sneezing. I put electolytes and probiotics in their water. I should deworm, correct?(any suggestions on meds?), but I don't think the cecal worms are causing these other symptoms.

I've just been feeling so bad that they're getting sick. It's been wet and rainy and muddy, so I'm trying to make them happy and keep everything as clean as possible. It's not particularly cold, in the 50s. Do you think a heat lamp in their coop would be helpful? Anything else I can do?

First of all. Good for you for getting a necropsy when you have more than one death.

I'm surprised they didn't find anything related to the sneezing.

Before I got to the grit part, I saw the long strands of grass in the small intestine. That, to me, indicates no proper grit. It shouldn't have made it to the intestine in that form.

Most people believe that their birds will obtain sufficient grit when foraging but I don't believe most forage has sufficient sized grit.

Grit is cheap and I give it to all ages of birds from 2 day olds and beyond.

Perhaps, if you have more problems, send a live sick bird so whatever the respiratory issue is will be discovered in the necropsy.

Whenever I hear of respiratory issues this time of year, I worry that people are closing off ventilation to the detriment of the chickens.

@quarkthestrange , welcome to BYC and thanks for posting your necropsy results.

-Kathy