Two Dead Chickens within 3 weeks???

[MuskokaChick]

4 weeks ago I had a chicken go broody on me (under a year old red sex link)

I put her in the penelty box for 48 hours with food and water and she joined the others and all was fine. She wasn't laying though.

Then a week later I found her dead under the roost ??????? I checked her over, no wounds, nothing out of the ordinary, I spoke with the feed store and they said it happens but it another dies, I might want to look into it.

So here we are today, I went into the coop at 1pm to let them out to free range, and all of them seemed fine. The kids just ran in yelling another chicken was dead. Under the nest laying on her back like she fell back and stiff.

What do I do now????

my stomach is upset, the coop is clean, fresh water every day lots of food, lots of room, plus they are out free ranging all afternoon and evening

What are my next steps and how do I find out what is going on and stop it?

tia

 

[MuskokaChick]

no protocol here?

I looked over all my hens (including the dead one) and they all look healthy, nice colour, none of them look sick. Even the dead one shows no signs of illness.

?

 

[3sacrowd]

I think you need to contact your state vet for a necropsy. I think in Washington state it is around $30. You might not be able to send either of these birds because of the way they want it preserved. Can you take the remaining girls to the vet?

 

[MuskokaChick]

thanks for the response...yes I am not sure (in ontario Canada)

but I guess a call to the vet wouldn't hurt.

s

 

[OneTenthAcreAndAChicken]

Hi - this is sad.

The folks at the RootSimple blog just lost two also. They followed up with a post about UC-Davis extension service offering free PM's in California. Maybe you could contact somebody at Ontario Animal Health Surveillance Network and see if they know of a similar service in your area.

Hope you can find something out - must be frustrating to not know.

 

[seminolewind]

I'm very sorry about your chickens. Sometimes the best care in the world doesn't save them. Your symptoms are very vague, I wish I could say something, but I don't know.