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FOLLOW-UP to water poisoning, 1st one down, dead, in minutes

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Botulism also requires warm temps to survive, but didn't you say this pond is still partially frozen? I would look really carefully at your deceased bird for any sign of any injury, just to rule that completely out. I'm still not convinced it was the water, under these circumstances. I wish I could be of more help
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I misspoke. It has been frozen all winter but its thawed now. It was actually 70 degrees here today, warm spring day. The "pond" water smells really bad like decaying plants, like a stagnant swamp smell.
 
I would keep your other birds away from this pond until you can drain and clean it. You might want to call a poison control in your area and say you have pets that drank pond water and one died. (it you say chickens, they might hang up fast). I have always found them to be very helpful. Worth a try.
 
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Well, yuck! Hopefully it was just the one bird affected. Maybe she drank more of it than the others. Did you get a chance to check out those links? The one from Merck Vet seemed to have the most info on possible treatments. Good luck! Again, sorry about your lost one.
 
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Thank you everyone for your quick help! Yes, the links were very helpful and it was good to not have to spend a bunch of time searching the web. I ran to the store and bought epsom salts and am administering a flush to each bird. I mixed 3 teaspoons of the salts into 1.5 cups water as the one website suggested. But does anyone know how much I give to each bird?
 
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How did everyone else fare? Not sure of the amount - you want to be sure not to let the birds aspirate (fluid in the lungs, which can cause pneumonia). I would guess about 3cc to start. Hope all is well, considering!
 
I think we are "out of the woods" here and there have been no more deaths. I administered an Epsom salt flush to each bird which took about five hours total. I began with the smallest individuals that I considered to be at the greatest risk. I read many conflicting accounts on how much of the flush to administer and in what concentration. I ended up going with 1 teaspoon of Epsom salt per fluid ounce of water (that's two tablespoons of water). I only gave about 1/2 ounce of this solution to each bantam and a full ounce to each of the standard sized hens. I was able to get them to drink it by putting a plastic syringe in their mouths and squirting it in a little at a time. It took a long time and a lot of patience, but it was worth it. It definitely drained their systems because they had the squirts big time.
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I continued to check on them all night long. In the morning, to help replace their lost electrolytes and gut flora, I fed them yogurt with oatmeal and also mixed Pedialyte in with their water (about half Pedialyte and half water). I'm also mucking out all the litter in the coop, but that needed to be done anyhow now that it's spring. And of course I drained that icky water out of the water garden tub and cleaned it.

It just all happened SO fast and I was especially attached to the little hen who died
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I had three of her eggs on hand and have them in my incubator hoping that maybe I can have a chick from her
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She was such a cute little gal (about the size of a serama), so sweet and broody too. Last fall I bought eggs from ebay just for her because she was so determined to hatch babies and sure enough she hatched out a batch of silkies. They made the cutest little family. I was so proud of her because she had barely even started laying and had never been a mamma but she stuck on those eggs like she was super glued to them.

When I found her on the floor of the coop I thought she was injured and when I picked her up she went into convulsions with her head twisted all the way around touching her back and she was dead. It was that fast. Afterward fluid drained out of her mouth. This is typical of botulism because according to my chicken health handbook the toxin paralyzes their systems and they can't swallow. If I hadn't moved her she may have lived a little longer but I wouldn't have been able to treat her because she couldn't swallow and all her systems were shutting down.

I hope other newbies like myself will be able to benefit from my post. I had no idea that they were in such danger from that stupid little water tub:(
 

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