27 Gone Over night. No Explanation

[anthonyjames]

I have 150 FR. They are 5 weeks old. I put them on pasture 2 weeks ago and they are still in the hoop houses that I move daily. 50 in each one. Plan was to keep them in these for 6 weeks then open them up to free range with my turkeys in a 1 acre electric netted pasture area.

So yesterday I got a new batch of feed. 500lbs. Feed them in the AM and all was fine. Went back to feed them at 6pm and make sure everyone had water and close up the animals for the night. Got then and found 7 dead. Felt their crops and nothing was in them. Completely empty. Got their this AM and 20 more dead. Same thing. Granted the feed this time was not rolled to my liking it is still plenty rolled.

Any out there have any clues?

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

they shouldn't starve that fast, could there be a food source in the pen that they like better than the regular feed, that could be contaminated or moldy? Sounds like poison to me.

 

[anthonyjames]

Nothing. They are on pasture in a portable hoop house that I move 2 times daily. Once in the AM when the sun comes up and then again around 5pm every day so they have fresh grass and don't have to sleep on their poo from the day.

 

[augustmomx2]

I would guess moldy feed as well...I had a Speckled Sussex that found a minimal amount of moldy feed (inside a brick no less

) and was dead by morning. To have them all die that quickly, all at once, the feed would be the first thing I would look at. Sorry to hear about your losses

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

my first guess would be the feed too, except that you said they have empty crops . . . that doesn't add up. How were the dead birds laying whenyou found them? did you open one up?

 

[anthonyjames]

I did not open any up. But I did find one with a soybean lodged in it's throat. I could feel it.

And when I found them they were laying breast down

 

[eKo_birdies]

wow.. i'm really sorry to hear about this. hope you get to the bottom of it!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

hmmm so it's not flip, and in my experience mycotoxiosis (sp?) the neck goes parallized (sp?) first and you find them sitting but with limp neck and nead on the ground. it sounds strange that their crops were empty . . . did their water system somehow fail? or perhaps some contaminant get in to the water?

 

[stanglover2001]

What kinda feed are you giving them? You said it was rolled but not to your liking, could you elaborate (sp) on that? If it keeps going on you may want to inspect your feed to see what may be in it to do that, I can't imagine they all choked to death! Have you changed anything else? water? bowls? been to some chicken farm? Has there been water in the bowls each time you found them? Has it been unbearably cold out? You said you have 50 in each one, do you think not enough food for all or being trampled?

 

[anthonyjames]

All the feed went back to the mill Monday at 5AM when I was going passed. They basically mixed it but nothing was rolled. Meaning the corn, soybeans, oats everything was whole. I fed them layer feed yesterday and this AM and all are still alive and healthy as the mill is remaking my feed from scratch and delivering it to me so I don't have to pick it up after hours.


As for my set up they are in these: http://gallery.me.com/anthonyjames420#100439/DSC_0024&bgcolor=black

They are not in these images but the same hoop style tractors, 5 gallon pail and gravity fed water. They had enough food as I have 2 - 3 ft long metal troughs in them and I fill them in the AM and in the PM.

Also, yesterday I moved them to my pasture with my turkeys and now can free range within the paddock if they'd like so hopefully they will pick up the growing. They are so tiny right now. When moving them I saw one bird that is 5 weeks old and only had 4 wing feathers. Otherwise it is bald. Strange.