2 days and 6 dead chickens later ugh!

[Mrs. K]

Get them through the worst of winter, days getting longer, a few eggs showing up. Yesterday morning, a older bird, dead on the bottom of the coop. It happens, disappointing, she was a good bird, but quick and painless. This morning things were fine. They were still roosted up when I did chores, and checked for eggs. Tonight, 5 are dead. UGH! Three were on the roost! In fact, I didn't immediately realize one of them was dead. Saw one kind of caught between the roost and the wall, and was thinking dang it, when all at once I realized things were not right.

None of them look stressed, no tears, no wounds, no thrashing or extended wings, just like they are sleeping.

It must of been something they got into? I have let them out the last couple of days, and I have had chickens roaming around for years... will be looking more carefully tomorrow. The one hen that is left? She is the sole survivor of a horrible coon predation. Should hatch her eggs, she is my oldest hen and a survivor.

Sometimes this hobby is just not fun.

Mrs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't now of any disease that would act that fast and especially uniformly, so I'd suspect poisoning. I don't know which rat poison you are using but I think you've found the source.

I also treat rodent infestations with poisons when they get out of hand. I typically have traps set to try to keep the numbers under control but sometimes that is not enough. You do what you have to. I try to not only keep it where the chickens can't get to it but also keep it safe from dogs and wildlife. One typical method is to build a box with a hinged lid to load it and with holes just big enough for rats or mice to enter. I weight it down with cinder blocks to keep other critters from opening it but sometimes when they chew the poison block down small enough they move it outside. It doesn't happen often but I have seen it a couple of times. Hopefully the dosage in that small amount would not be enough to harm a larger critter if it did eat it.

The only times I've lost that many at one time was dog attacks. It's not a good feeling, especially when you feel like if you had just been around to notice you could have stopped it. Don't beat yourself up too much, just learn from it.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Oh no! I'm so so sorry! I hope that you can figure out what's going on quickly!

 

[centrarchid]

Toxin or very virulent disease. If former, how is your feed? Can you go out and check them odd for behavior on the roost?

 

[aart]

That stinks @Mrs. K !! So sorry.
The sudden onset surely makes the rat poison theory relevant.

 

[Mrs. K]

One hen made it...I think. She still looked good tonight. @ Folly - those bright eyes are safe from me... she is staying.

Not my rooster, Tipperary. Today, I put a call in for some chicks. Will be ordering this week. Will get a mixed group, I like that kind of flock best.

SWEAR.... ugh. Oh well chicks are always fun.

Mrs K

 

[Mrs. K]

I am thinking maybe rodent poison. Not in my coop of course, but up in the cattle barn, we had quite a problem. It has been so nice, I have been letting the chickens out to roam.They generally don't roam clear to the cattle barn, but they must have. My husband found some that had been drugged out from where he had it, he thought he had it all picked up. I am going to look really hard all around tomorrow. It sucks that it was my chickens, but it was not my grand children.

We generally are very careful with this stuff. But coons can be very handy. We will be looking carefully.

As for the birds, they were not stressed and absolutely no sign of sickness. They literally just looked asleep.

 

[gtaus]

Sorry for your loss. I don't let my chickens free range due to predator concerns, but I suppose one of the benefits of keeping them in a fenced in run is that it reduces the number of things they could eat that might be deadly to them. Hope you find out what killed your chickens and you post what happened.

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

Are you protecting them from the cold? If not, they're probably dying from the extreme stress on their bodies.

These birds are surprisingly tough. I have a heat lamp but only use it in the teens or single digits. Last winter I had 1 orpington with only a heat lamp she survived -54° alone in her coop.

But I'm creeped out about this story.

 

[centrarchid]

Potential valuable lesson for grand kids. Show them and explain. Have them help you find potential poison deposits the chickens are eating.

Does rodenticide label indicate emergency treatment if consumed by nontarget animal?