3 hens died over 2 1/2 years. Is this normal?

[New Chicken Farmer]

Hello,

We're a new chicken raising family looking for a little insight. We have a small flock (12) hens which we started about 2 1/2 years ago. Over that time, we've had 3 hens die. Two were happy and healthy one day, and died the next. One began to show signs of sickness (paralysis on one side), and died two days later. They have a very large clean coop, great feed, access to calcium and the outdoors daily. I can't see anything in their environment that would cause this many deaths, and am starting to worry that there may be a disease or something causing it. Is it normal to loose 3 young-ish chickens in 2 1/2 years?

 

[Farm Up North]

My first flock, I think out of 19 chickens I lost 4 or 5 within 2 years. It's kind of luck of the draw, really. They're not particularly hardy animals once something goes wrong internally. I had one that had ovarian cancer, which I knew because she just dropped dead one day without warning and I opened her up to make sure it was not a disease that took her out. One was internally laying, and the other 3 started pooping what I call the "death poop", where it's yellowish like egg white and runny.
I have noticed much fewer casualties with my second flock, and I swear it's because I switched to All Flock instead of layer feed. Some ladies are egg-laying duds, and if they eat calcium they don't use, it can cause health issues.

 

[azygous]

It is not normal to lose multiple young birds like this, and the symptoms you report could point to an avian virus as the culprit.

There are two main viruses that are all too common in our backyard flocks. One is Marek's and most have heard of it and know the symptoms to watch for. But the other one is even more common, yet less known. It's called lymphoid leucosis or avian leucosis. Both can cause lameness before they kill.

The best way to determine if you have a virus of this nature in your flock is the send a recently dead bird to your state lab for testing. Another method is a blood test on a live chicken you or your vet can do and then send the sample to a pathology lab for diagnosis.

There are, of course, other causes of lameness and death. But, when multiple deaths occur, it's a better bet it's from an avian virus.