Chickens are Dying 1 by 1. Help!!

I'm totally lost. I have no idea what's going on. I started out with 80 unsexed chicks. (Mixed Breed Egg Laying Type) . They were fine for a few months and then they started dying one by one. The chickens are now at the ready to lay egg age and they still keep on dying. I've done everything in my power to try and stop this but nothing really helps. In the last 2 days 2 more have died now. Out of 80 chicks I have about 15 left and half of them are boys. The strange thing is it seems to only be happening more to the hens not the roos. I've given away most of my roos from this group and they all seem ok and the ones that I have still from this group are totally fine. Ok here is what's going on. All the hens that are dying have absolutely no muscle mass, they eat normal and drink normal and the out of the blue they drop dead and when I check them after they die they have only about 2% muscle. I've dewormed them a bunch of times, I've put them on different types of antibiotics and still they die. I've totally cleaned out the cage and spayed it to kill bacteria and bugs (numerous times). I have no idea what else to do. Anyone else experience anything like this or maybe know what might be going on? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

What have you used to worm the?

Have you given them Sulmet OR Corid for Cocci..... ?

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Give us the following information. The more you tell us, the better we will be able to help you. (This would be pre-dying symptoms, as well as environment, medications tried, for how long, etc.... Time in between treatments is also important. Are they all dying the same way? Blood in the poop?)

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? All of them, by name, dosages, timeline, duration, etc.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
11) If you have a picture of the condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use... enviornment.... what do they come into contact with, in and out of the coop? Do they free range, plants or poisons, yard spray, etc.?

Sometimes chickens die and we don't really know why... the most common things in the young are the cocci and Merek's, I believe.
And, sometimes we do too much for them, over medicate, cause more harm than good. Use caution with medications. It might be time to contact your "Department of Agriculture" Fish and Game, etc.. a local university... look into where you can get blood work and or a "free" necropsy done. The costs are low or free and it would be beneficial to really know what is going on for sure with your young chickens.
I'm sorry for your loses, I do hope that things turn around and they get better and stop dying. Good luck.

Remember that we are not veterinarians. We help based on our own research and experiences.
We cannot monitor the board 24/7, and therefore do not guarantee we can always help, much as we would wish to.
We should never be a replacement if real medical attention is required.
If your situation seems to require a trip to the vet, please do so. It is always a good idea to know of an avian vet in your area in case your situation is bad enough that we cannot help. We encourage you to visit the Reference Forum and read up there before you need the information.

Some important links to read:

Links to disease symptoms and information
Chicken Anatomy
Friendly Reminder-PLEASE Quarantine Newly Purchased Birds!

Thank you!

The BYC Staff

Hi, I'm having the same issues, so I will answer the questions and see if anyone has any ideas:

1) What type of bird
Big white "broilers"..I think someone at tracter supply called them "rocks"
, age about 3 months
and weight the ones that die, get lighter about the time they get sick

2) What is the behavior, exactly. Laying around under the coop in the shade, lethargic, then wobbly and almost blind then worse lethergy until death.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? takes about a day or a day and a half from first noticing anything different until they die

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? one at a time. The "reds" or "layers" haven't yet and neither have the little bantums


5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No sign of trauma

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. No idea. One died and I watched to see if something hurt him or was after them..nothing...and then one at a time is dying. The males first, now a female.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.Eating hen scratcha dn layer pellets and free range. Drinking water-fresh and changed daily from a traugh that they all share and the cats drink out of

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.before they die, their butts get messy like maybe diarrhea, but i haven't actually seen the poop.

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? None, by the time I realize they are sick, they are really sick. I have no idea what to treat them with.
.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? I can treat them myself if I can figure out what toi treat them with. I haven't had chickens since I was a kid on the ranch I grew up on.

11) If you have a picture of the condition, please post it. It may help.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use...closed wooden chicken coop, shredded newspapers for bedding(i have a shredder and they deliver papers out here weekly free, might as well use them for something.

enviornment.... Very rural, fields and trees

what do they come into contact with, in and out of the coop? nothing in...outside..just the yard.

Do they free range, plants or poisons, yard spray, etc.?free range, plants are all natural for rural north texas, no poisons or yard sprays. I use diatomatious earth on ant beds etc and use it in their food also.