10 chickens dead in one night, 3 left.

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that's hearbreaking. really sorry. i had a hard time finding bulbs without the coating. i had just read it here about the teflon emiting toxic fumes when it gets hot.
i guess there's no real way to be sure what caused it. i think you're smart to dump the bag of feed in case something in there is wrong.
sure hope this is the end of your troubles.
 
If you have been using this lamp and bulb over the last year then maybe it might not be the problem. After reading on this forum about a month ago the toxic effects of some bulbs I had a really hard time finding a heat lamp bulb for my brooder that did not state it was shielded or shatter-guard. It does seem odd there were three left alive if it was the bulb though. Again, so sorry.
 
So sorry for your loss--how awful for you and your daughter.
I am curious/confused though...(not an unusual thing for me:)....you said you had four hens (one year old?), and then brought home 10 chicks last month...but they were all together in the same coop? Or were they in a brooder under the heat lamp? And you found most (8 out of the 10?) of the young ones dead and also three of the older ones? I guess I am just trying to figure out what could have caused the tragedy (as I know you are!) I wouldn't think the older birds would be under a heat lamp, and if it was an older bulb I'd think the coating would have already burned away and fumes wouldn't be an issue.
And you wouldn't have young chicks on the same feed as you would your older layers since they wouldn't need to added calcium,etc. that layers need. Or maybe I misunderstood and your new 'babies' weren't young chicks, just new to you?
At first I would have suspected the hens attacking the chicks, but you said three of the hens had also died, and that you saw no signs of violence... Did I miss something (I read your op 2-3 times but confusion still abounds!)
Bottom line, that really is puzzling and I hope you are able to determine the cause so you can prevent it from happening again-- Best of luck!
 
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How devastating! I'm with Delcochix..I'm a bit confused. How old were the "babies"? Are they on the same food as your older ones? Is there anyone living around you that might be unhappy with you having chickens??
 
Sorry for the confusing posts, I was a bit beside myself earlier,

I had 4 - 1 year old chickens, and 10 - 2 and 3 month old chickens. I had just put the younger ones out in the coop almost 2 weeks ago, as it's warmed up here quite a bit, And they had most of their feathers. The same light was used from last year, and had kept my 4 older ones warm all winter too. I lost 3 of the older ones, and 8 of the younger ones.

They were on separate food, although the little ones did get the older chickens food now and again.

And yep, there were no signs what-so ever that any violence had happened, I even went through and checked all 11 chickens that had died and didn't find any signs at all... I first thought that maybe the "big girl" had done something, but She was one of the ones killed too.

When we built our coop, it was after a massive weasel attack that had taken out 8 of our original chickens (last year), it was rodent proofed to the extreme ( I think we had went a bit over board.. but it's sealed up tight- with good airflow still of course :p ) I checked for any tracks around it or signs that something may have scared them but found nothing at all.

They were all laying on the bottom of the coop on their bellies, with their legs straight out behind them and most with their heads straight down..
 
their posture should tell something. i don't know what that 'something' is, but it sounds very specific.
if the food were the culprit, i would expect their posture to be more contorted as is usual for poisoning of some sort. if it were fear resulting from a predator terrorizing them, they would be every which way. it almost sounds like a vapor poisoning - which kinda matches the conversation about the bulbs.
 
That's what I was kind of thinking too, BJ. It was really weird to seem them all laying like that, not all in one place, but scattered about, under where they usually roost at, but all in the same exact position.
 
Is your coop clean? - too much ammonia could do something like that - especially if you don't have enough incoming air - maybe you closed up the coop too much -
 

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