1 dead, 1 sick, 6 others. please help

[sunmanchicken127]

I have 8 chickens - 6 are about 8 months old, and 2 are over 2 years.

Let me preface by saying I went to get feed yesterday and accidentally bought pellets when I usually get crumble. I threw it all away because I fear this killed and made them sick somehow. I've given them crumble every day of their lives, and the day I accidentally buy pellets, one dies and the other gets ill. Most the pellets were gone that I put out in the morning, so they did eat them. There was way more spillage than I've had with crumble though and I am assuming they were digging through it trying to find crumble.

This morning I let them out and everyone was perfectly healthy. No problems, no odd behavior just 16 hours ago.

I went out to put them to bed for the evening and noticed 2 were not roosting. One was in the coop in the corner. The other was outside on the floor.

I went to grab the outside girl (~8 months old) and she barely moved and waddled to me. I immediately knew something was wrong and within 1 hour she was dead. She wouldn't touch food or scratch or water. She barely moved. When I brought her inside, she was vomitting brown juice. I was holding her upside down for about 13 minutes to drain the vomit and a good TBSP of vomit had come out. She then started flinching, I held her close and on the 14th minute she was dead in my arms. She's an Easter Egger.

I then went out to check on the other hen (2 years old). She is sitting next to this diarrhea -

I left for a time to bury my dead girl. I came back maybe 90 minutes later and saw a deformed soft egg next to that feces (I have been her caretaker for 6 months and have never seen this from her) -

From there, I put a bit of scratch and grit with oyster shell inside to see if she was hungry. She mowed it down immediately, and 2 birds jumped down from the roost to eat with her. She then jumped up to the roost like everything was normal. She doesn't look like she's dying or have that helpless, dead weight feeling my other chicken had. She seems lively. I don't even know if that diarrhea is hers. But she 100% laid that soft egg and then ate a bit of scratch before jumping up on the roost like normal.

Did I kill my chicken? Am I going to kill more? I am in shambles. Hit me with anything and any advice. I am getting their normal food tomorrow morning, I am sanitizing all their feeders and waterers, and I am going to look into diseases. It is worth mentioning wild birds have been eating a ton of their food the last few months and have been around them. I am new to this. This is my first flock and first loss and I believe I will lose more if I don't identify the enemy. Thanks in advance. I will read this in about 8 hours when I wake up and go get their crumble.

 

[SourRoses]

The experts will be coming along, don't worry.
I wanted to ask: that egg in the box next to your EE's body, when did she lay that?
The living hen with the diarrhea... it looks like egg yolk.
It makes me wonder if they both are suffering laying issues.
Do you know how well they were taking up the Oyster Shell normally?
I have older hens who are stubborn about not eating enough of it (likely they spent so much time on layer at the previous farm that they lost the instinct).

 

[sunmanchicken127]

The experts will be coming along, don't worry.
I wanted to ask: that egg in the box next to your EE's body, when did she lay that?
The living hen with the diarrhea... it looks like egg yolk.
It makes me wonder if they both are suffering laying issues.
Do you know how well they were taking up the Oyster Shell?
I have older hens who are stubborn about not eating enough of it (likely they spent so much time on layer at the previous farm that they lost the instinct).

She layed it today or yesterday. I didn't put it there for any reason, I just was grieving and wanted her to have her egg in the grave.

I haven't had any egg issues. They're all been really good and the oyster shell gets eaten up as usual. Just a strange coincidence to have this deformed egg the same time she dies suddenly. They are usually laying them during daylight, but this older hen layed that at midnight as this was going down. Can they have deformed eggs if they didn't eat enough regular food for the day? I really think I just harmed them by using the pellets instead of going back and getting crumble. Today was the first and only day I've used them and this happens.

 

[SnugglesTheChicken]

I have 8 chickens - 6 are about 8 months old, and 2 are over 2 years.

Let me preface by saying I went to get feed yesterday and accidentally bought pellets when I usually get crumble. I threw it all away because I fear this killed and made them sick somehow. I've given them crumble every day of their lives, and the day I accidentally buy pellets, one dies and the other gets ill. Most the pellets were gone that I put out in the morning, so they did eat them. There was way more spillage than I've had with crumble though and I am assuming they were digging through it trying to find crumble.

This morning I let them out and everyone was perfectly healthy. No problems, no odd behavior just 16 hours ago.

I went out to put them to bed for the evening and noticed 2 were not roosting. One was in the coop in the corner. The other was outside on the floor.

I went to grab the outside girl (~8 months old) and she barely moved and waddled to me. I immediately knew something was wrong and within 1 hour she was dead. She wouldn't touch food or scratch or water. She barely moved. When I brought her inside, she was vomitting brown juice. I was holding her upside down for about 13 minutes to drain the vomit and a good TBSP of vomit had come out. She then started flinching, I held her close and on the 14th minute she was dead in my arms. She's an Easter Egger.

View attachment 3458356

I then went out to check on the other hen (2 years old). She is sitting next to this diarrhea -
View attachment 3458354

I left for a time to bury my dead girl. I came back maybe 90 minutes later and saw a deformed soft egg next to that feces (I have been her caretaker for 6 months and have never seen this from her) -
View attachment 3458357
From there, I put a bit of scratch and grit with oyster shell inside to see if she was hungry. She mowed it down immediately, and 2 birds jumped down from the roost to eat with her. She then jumped up to the roost like everything was normal. She doesn't look like she's dying or have that helpless, dead weight feeling my other chicken had. She seems lively. I don't even know if that diarrhea is hers. But she 100% laid that soft egg and then ate a bit of scratch before jumping up on the roost like normal.

Did I kill my chicken? Am I going to kill more? I am in shambles. Hit me with anything and any advice. I am getting their normal food tomorrow morning, I am sanitizing all their feeders and waterers, and I am going to look into diseases. It is worth mentioning wild birds have been eating a ton of their food the last few months and have been around them. I am new to this. This is my first flock and first loss and I believe I will lose more if I don't identify the enemy. Thanks in advance. I will read this in about 8 hours when I wake up and go get their crumble.

May be digestive problems? Or a very bad reaction to the food. Definately get regular food! I hope the food wasn;t diseased but worth throwing it out and cleaning. It was not your fault and they will love you forever. Im so sorry this happened to you, best of luck for the future

 

[coach723]

If the food were bad then likely all, or most, of them would have shown signs of illness. Signs of bad feed are color changes, often white, green or gray, bad smell, clumping or powdering of feed. Always empty a new bag of feed into another container so you see all of it before feeding. Sometimes a bag will start to go bad at the bottom where it was sitting on the ground, and the top may look fine.
For the one that died, it's really hard to say what might have happened without a necropsy. Sometime illness is not obvious until it's well advanced, and sometimes they do just die suddenly. It's really not a good idea to vomit a bird, the risk of aspiration or suffocation is high.
For the older hen, a soft shelled egg may just be glitch. Or could be an indication of a reproductive problem. Since she seemed fine after, then may just be a glitch. I would keep an eye on her, if she has trouble again then I would give her a calcium citrate +D (citracal) tablet or capsule once a day to see if the shell quality improves. It will also help with contractions to help her pass it if it's soft, those are harder to pass than a normal egg.
For the dropping, I've circled one spot below, that may possibly be lash material. That would indicate an infection/inflammation of the oviduct. I can't tell if that's what it is, or just some tissue or mucous. If you still have it, then closer inspection would maybe tell you.
More information on lash material and salpingitis here: https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/

 

[sunmanchicken127]

UPDATE: I let them out this morning and it seems they are going out of their way to not eat out of the feeders. There's a peck here and there, but their typical behavior is to swarm the feeders in the morning and eat away. They also have barely touched the water and they typically drink up in the morning, too. They all just jumped out and kinda wandered around. I threw out a few mealworms to see if they have any appetite and they ate them all almost immediately with their same usual excitement.

 

[sunmanchicken127]

If the food were bad then likely all, or most, of them would have shown signs of illness. Signs of bad feed are color changes, often white, green or gray, bad smell, clumping or powdering of feed. Always empty a new bag of feed into another container so you see all of it before feeding. Sometimes a bag will start to go bad at the bottom where it was sitting on the ground, and the top may look fine.
For the one that died, it's really hard to say what might have happened without a necropsy. Sometime illness is not obvious until it's well advanced, and sometimes they do just die suddenly. It's really not a good idea to vomit a bird, the risk of aspiration or suffocation is high.
For the older hen, a soft shelled egg may just be glitch. Or could be an indication of a reproductive problem. Since she seemed fine after, then may just be a glitch. I would keep an eye on her, if she has trouble again then I would give her a calcium citrate +D (citracal) tablet or capsule once a day to see if the shell quality improves. It will also help with contractions to help her pass it if it's soft, those are harder to pass than a normal egg.
For the dropping, I've circled one spot below, that may possibly be lash material. That would indicate an infection/inflammation of the oviduct. I can't tell if that's what it is, or just some tissue or mucous. If you still have it, then closer inspection would maybe tell you.
More information on lash material and salpingitis here: https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/
View attachment 3458607

Thanks for the info and especially on vomitting them.

If it's a reproductive problem, will she continue to have droppings like this? Should I just watch for them?

And if another dies, how should I get a necropsy? Do I just bring the body to a vet? I'm trying to find out online but don't totally understand.

 

[coach723]

Here is a list of state labs, you can contact your nearest one for particulars on shipping or drop off:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf
It may be less expensive to go directly to a diagnostic lab rather than a veterinarian.
If there is a bird with salpingitis, they sometimes will expel lash material, and sometimes it just builds up inside. Some can live for quite some time with it, other pass quickly, it's hard to predict. Progression usually means they stop laying, the abdomen becomes bloated, they waddle, the legs can be pushed wider by the material in their abdomens, they may have trouble breathing and will generally appear to be slower. It can vary bird to bird as to how they do.
If you see another dropping like that one, then don't be afraid to examine any solids in there. Cutting open lash material to see the inside usually answers if it's that, or something else, there are pictures in the link I gave before. Hopefully it's not that, time will tell.