Dying chickens

[TerryH]

Thanks everyone for all the kind words, comments, thoughts and prayers. Cheryl and I appreciate you all very much. To be quite honest, I am still reeling from it all. My heart is hurt. I can't get my head around all the researching, reading and working so hard to try and make things perfect for the chickens and for Cheryl to have her perfect spot to raise her chickens only to have this happen. All of them are important but the loss of #7 is a bitter pill for me to swallow. It has not been a fun week of chicken keeping.

The guys from the U of A made it clear that once Aspergillus is growing in the air sacs, lungs or other internal organs there is nothing that can be done. The swabs and inspections confirmed that all of them were in absolutely perfect health up to that point. The remaining 6 seem fine today. I have great hope that they will be ok.

So this morning once again we set out to endeavor to do everything we can to make it right and safe for the remaining 6. Cheryl and I decided that even though I had already shoveled 99.9% of the wood chips out of the run and the U of A guys had given their approval to the area, we would not settle for anything less than to clean every single wood chip and sliver of anything foreign from the run and scrape the ground. More of a project than one would think but we completed that task and disposed of that material. We cleaned all the shavings and PDZ from the coop and moved that material to the run. We thoroughly cleaned everything and added fresh bags of shavings to the run and the coop. Fresh PDZ on the poop tray.

We had moved the girls out to the chicken yard while we worked and they were obviously very happy to be out of the coop. Once we completed the work we let them back into the run and they immediately began to dig dust baths and had quite a time running around and playing. It was nice to sit with them. I feel like we have done everything we possibly can to mitigate the fungus issue. I suppose time will tell.

The run after cleaning.



And the run after loading the pine shavings back in and the girls enjoying being out of the coop.

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry for the loss of your chickens. Glad that you could share the results of testing with others in this thread.

 

[kgb6days]

I'm so very sorry for the loss of your girls, but thank you so much for sharing all this information so I could learn too. I had thought about checking with a friend that does tree work to see if we could get wood chips from him but have now decided no way. Hope things go well from now on
Kristy

 

[ChicKat]

Thanks everyone for all the kind words, comments, thoughts and prayers. Cheryl and I appreciate you all very much. To be quite honest, I am still reeling from it all. My heart is hurt. I can't get my head around all the researching, reading and working so hard to try and make things perfect for the chickens and for Cheryl to have her perfect spot to raise her chickens only to have this happen. All of them are important but the loss of #7 is a bitter pill for me to swallow. It has not been a fun week of chicken keeping.

The guys from the U of A made it clear that once Aspergillus is growing in the air sacs, lungs or other internal organs there is nothing that can be done. The swabs and inspections confirmed that all of them were in absolutely perfect health up to that point. The remaining 6 seem fine today. I have great hope that they will be ok.

So this morning once again we set out to endeavor to do everything we can to make it right and safe for the remaining 6. Cheryl and I decided that even though I had already shoveled 99.9% of the wood chips out of the run and the U of A guys had given their approval to the area, we would not settle for anything less than to clean every single wood chip and sliver of anything foreign from the run and scrape the ground. More of a project than one would think but we completed that task and disposed of that material. We cleaned all the shavings and PDZ from the coop and moved that material to the run. We thoroughly cleaned everything and added fresh bags of shavings to the run and the coop. Fresh PDZ on the poop tray.

We had moved the girls out to the chicken yard while we worked and they were obviously very happy to be out of the coop. Once we completed the work we let them back into the run and they immediately began to dig dust baths and had quite a time running around and playing. It was nice to sit with them. I feel like we have done everything we possibly can to mitigate the fungus issue. I suppose time will tell.

The run after cleaning.



And the run after loading the pine shavings back in and the girls enjoying being out of the coop.

So sorry for you loss. Some consolation, at least that #7 will help with teaching others.

Your run is so beautiful! I think I would have gone bare dirt or sand. What I love most about your run is the things that the chickens can play on and roost on. Brilliant!!!!! I may just tyr to copy some of your perch ideas! Thanks.

 

[aart]

Wonders if the chips were allowed to 'age' and dry out some.....would the fungus be depleted to njumbers below danger status?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

So sorry for you loss. Some consolation, at least that #7 will help with teaching others.

Your run is so beautiful! I think I would have gone bare dirt or sand. What I love most about your run is the things that the chickens can play on and roost on. Brilliant!!!!! I may just tyr to copy some of your perch ideas! Thanks.

I was thinking the same thing about the run being beautiful AND copying that corner roost pole.

 

[TerryH]

Wonders if the chips were allowed to 'age' and dry out some.....would the fungus be depleted to njumbers below danger status?

I think this is a definite possibility but I would never risk it with this load of chips. I didn't get that far yesterday but once my Sunday responsibilities are over Ill get some pics of the material I removed from the run vs the pile itself. There is a significant difference in the chips that were spread out in the run. If I were to ever attempt this again I would lay down tarps and spread the chips out and allow them to dry and age for a long enough time that the initial moisture was gone.

 

[Finnie]

Wonders if the chips were allowed to 'age' and dry out some.....would the fungus be depleted to njumbers below danger status?

I think this is a definite possibility but I would never risk it with this load of chips. I didn't get that far yesterday but once my Sunday responsibilities are over Ill get some pics of the material I removed from the run vs the pile itself. There is a significant difference in the chips that were spread out in the run. If I were to ever attempt this again I would lay down tarps and spread the chips out and allow them to dry and age for a long enough time that the initial moisture was gone.

When they sell us hardwood mulch in plastic bags at lowe's, I wonder if they dry that out and age it before they bag it. I know the bags get wet in the rain. I have found mold and fungus in my mulch plenty of times. That is for flower bed use, and I've never worried about it. But the chickens do sometimes scratch around in the beds.

 

[aart]

Quote: Did you ask the poultry guy about it?
I would assume he is enough of a scientist to garner an opinion about the locations and life of the fungus.
I mean, it's got to be just about everywhere....it could be in the dirt in the run and didn't grow to death numbers until that wet wood and leaves were brought in.

 

[TerryH]

Did you ask the poultry guy about it?
I would assume he is enough of a scientist to garner an opinion about the locations and life of the fungus.
I mean, it's got to be just about everywhere....it could be in the dirt in the run and didn't grow to death numbers until that wet wood and leaves were brought in.

He told me that we would discuss the chips in detail once the cultures were complete.