Sudden Death of Rooster & Hen

[Kenncarr]

On Friday night I discovered my favorite Silverudds Blue hen dead on her back under the coop. She was 1.5 years old. I check on my coops several times a day and she has always been fine. She had suddenly stopped laying eggs for 3 weeks, we looked her over several times and could not find the issue. The morning before she passed away we found a broken egg in the nest box that looked like hers. We chalked the death up to being egg bound and an infection from the egg breaking internally. 3 nights later my Silverudds Blue rooster from the same coop is dead. No symptoms other than his comb was looking a bit rough from the cold snap we just had. Temps well into the negatives before both chickens died. He was from the same hatching eggs as the hen that had died. Could poor genetics cause this? Now I am on edge wondering what could be causing this. I spent a lot of time examining all the other pullets in the coop. No respiratory symptoms. Everyone still eating and drinking. One legbar hens comb looks a bit rough but I believe it’s from the cold/frostbite from a cold snap we had a month ago. I’ll attach a photo.

 

[Iluveggers]

Where do you live? Do your birds free range or stay in a coop/run? How is their water intake (same as normal or lower?) Does their poop look normal?

 

[Tonyroo]

It's possible for a chicken to die from the cold snap, I had one happen to me but that was over 20 years ago and colder location.

But if your on the Eastern part of the US, it's possible you might be in the path of the influenza outbreak from migrating birds.

 

[Kenncarr]

Where do you live? Do your birds free range or stay in a coop/run? How is their water intake (same as normal or lower?) Does their poop look normal?

We are in Southern Utah. The birds get to free range once a week in a small area of our yard, but since it has been so cold the last few weeks it’s been a bit since they’ve gotten out of their run. Water intake seems normal. Poop seems normal. One had slightly more runny poop tonight but nothing strange in it.

 

[Kenncarr]

It's possible for a chicken to die from the cold snap, I had one happen to me but that was over 20 years ago and colder location.

But if your on the Eastern part of the US, it's possible you might be in the path of the influenza outbreak from migrating birds.

AI is definitely on my mind, but we are in Utah and no cases around us so far. We don’t see many migrating waterfowl where we are, but we do have tons of starlings and sparrows that like to hang around.

 

[Iluveggers]

I would suggest a necropsy if you still have the rooster’s body by chance. Impossible to tell now what went wrong. If anyone else gets sick, I would definitely want the flock tested. I’m sorry. That stinks.

 

[Kenncarr]

I would suggest a necropsy if you still have the rooster’s body by chance. Impossible to tell now what went wrong. If anyone else gets sick, I would definitely want the flock tested. I’m sorry. That stinks.

Thanks, we will be keeping a close eye. And hoping it was a coincidence between the two. We are NPIP and test for AI every 6 months. We are due in April so we will be sending in samples of our entire flock soon. I’ve invested the most into my Silverudds Blue stock so it’s hard to lose them.

 

[Coco21]

This USDA link has photos of chicken diseases including avian flu
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ou...rmation/avian/bfb-photo-gallery/photo-gallery