Sudden chicken deaths

[sidney]

My chickens are 3 & 4 years old and they just died within 2 weeks of each other. Shouldn't they live till 8 years old? I had an exterminator here for a rat problem and they said the chickens could not get to the poison. I've also been giving them daily treats of freeze dried mealworms. Did I give too much protein?

 

[PatrickRoo]

Sounds like they must've been near that poison. Mealworms don't kill chickens, as long as they're given as treats and not the majority of their diet.

 

[sidney]

Sounds like they must've been near that poison. Mealworms don't kill chickens, as long as they're given as treats and not the majority of their diet.

Thank you, I suspected the poison

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about your losses.

Dying within a couple of weeks of one another is concerning. What symptoms did you see, if any before they died. Could be poisoning - but at 3-4yrs of age, there can be a lot of things to cause death.

Unfortunately without having testing/necropsy performed, there is no way to know for sure what happened. If you still have her body, you can refrigerate it and send her to your state lab.

Here's a list of state labs:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf