Chicken are dying Fast 1-2 a day ?

We can not figure out what is going on. We treated for lice, there are no mites, or mice in the coop. They have blood on their butts.
We are trying to figure out what we are doing wrong. We water them out the creek, which they drink out of all summer long. Now we are wondering about their feed.... we killed our beef cow and had left over corn. My husband fed that to the chicken. Then we though maybe worm but no sign of worms. They are not thin, they look very healthy. We have Rhode Island red and buffs, so far we lost seven chicken. How do I keep from losing any more? Any advice is welcome!

Do a search on this site for "bloody droppings" and see if you can find anything similar to what you're experiencing. Good luck; wish I knew what to tell you!

Bloody droppings can also mean an intestinal/gastrointestinal/respiratory disease in chickens. Do they sneeze? Also, are their combs shrinking or becoming a paler color? Send photos if possible, and I'll keep looking at updates.

sounds like Coccidiosis

Young chickens pick up the infection from contaminated premises (soil, houses, utensils, etc.). These premises may have been contaminated previously by other young infected birds or by adult birds that have recovered from the condition. Wet areas around water fountains are a source of infection.
Coccidiosis occurs most frequently in young birds. Old birds are generally immune as a result of prior infection. Severe damage to the ceca and small intestine accompany the development of the coccidia. Broilers and layers are more commonly infected, but broiler breeders and turkey and pheasant poults are also affected.

Coccidiosis caused by E. tenella first becomes noticeable at about three days after infection. Chickens droop, stop feeding, huddle together, and by the fourth day, blood begins to appear in the droppings. The greatest amount of blood appears by day five or six, and by the eighth or ninth day, the bird is either dead or on the way to recovery. Mortality is highest between the fourth and sixth days. Death may occur unexpectedly, owing to excessive blood loss. Birds that recover may develop a chronic illness as a result of a persistent cecal core. However, the core usually detaches itself by eight to ten days and is shed in the droppings.

How to Treat Infected birds

Several anticoccidials are currently available. Depending on the product used, the withdrawal periods and contraindications should be strictly followed.

The emergence of drug-resistant strains of coccidia may present a major problem. Methods used to avoid the development of drug resistance include switching classes of drugs and the "shuttle program," which is a planned switch of drug in the middle of the bird's growing period.

No sure on this one: Laryngotracheitis?
Maybe post some pictures and different symptoms,
Bleeding butts and dying birds in pretty veage. There has to be more to it than that?

I don't know if I added these pictures right. I am new to this forum, I been on the site but that been it. My husband now wondering if keeping a light on in the coop all the time is the problem.

All the chicken seem alright no bloody poop until they die. The coop is heated, staying around 55 degree.

I am so sorry that your welcome to BYC is under such sad circumstances, but happy to see you anyway.

I am not at all sure what illness is affecting your flock. The first thing I would do is scrub the water pot and put in tap water. The second would be to fill the feeder to the top, and the third would be to turn off the light.

Chickens can handle very low temps if they have shelter from the wind and drafts. The light being on all time may be causing to peck at each other. That's one reason many commercial operation de-beak their hens, to stop the pecking because they are under lights all the time.
Creek water may be good, but you never know what's happening upstream. And for now, layer feed available at all times with a bit of scratch grains as a treat should be enough.

Good luck!

What else are you feeding them besides the leftover corn? A couple observations..the water is very dirty, no food in the feeder, looks like a picking problem going on (do you have a roo?). How long ago did you buy the bag of corn? Corn that sits too long can be toxic, especially in a humid environment. Any other symptoms observed? Paralysis, diarhea, breathing issues? What do the stools look like? Is the deceased chicken in the pic decapitated/head severed? It's hard to tell by the pic. How old are the birds?

Please read here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3569
and answer as many questions as possible.

Are they having respiratory distress? The reason I am asking is that from the pics of the floor of your coop, there is a lot of poop and ammonia will build up fast. This wouldn't be too bad in the summer, because the hens would be out wandering around, but in winter with them likely staying in a lot, it could be an issue. I would get some bedding on the floor and in the nest boxes to help absorb the poop.

Your coop seems small and bloody butts might mean they are picking at and killing each other out of boredom. Your feeder looks empty so they might not be getting enough to eat and looking for nutrition elsewhere by picking at each other.

I am not criticizing at all because I can only go by the info you gave. I am probably off base but until we have more info, that is all I can think of.

What is in the pot is well water, we have what they call hard water and it is discolored. My husband was only feeding twice a day, second feeding is at 7 pm. We had chickens for 3 years now. We haven't been able to clean the coop for a few days due to hoses froze up. Tomorrow it is getting cleaned. Our last coop was in bad shape, this one we built 6 months ago is vented and much easier to clean.

We already stopped giving the creek water and went to the well water. I personally have nothing to do with the chickens, just my husband and son. So I telling everyone just as much as I know at this time.

The question we had about the cow feed (corn) could it be hurting them?


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