- Nov 30, 2012
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I had a big healthy 5 mo old barred rock pullet die unexpectedly today. A couple hrs earlier all were alive and all morning all had been foraging normally. I found this one in a dusting hole about 6 pm. I had been out about 2 hrs earlier and had seen a live bird in this same hole. May have been same bird, but didn't think anything of it at the time. Anyway, this bird was seemingly healthy and had been vaccinated for Marek's at hatchery where she came from but I know no vaccine is 100% protection. I have read up on symptoms of Marek's and I have read that healthy birds can die suddenly while others die slowly. I realize that it could have been something simple like heat stroke or something else non infectious but I have a lot of birds and only a few have been vaccinated for marek's and none for anything else. So I am worried about the possibility of it being something contagious. I am thinking that it's unlikely marek's with her having been vaccinated and with it happening so quickly but I don't know enough about the disease to know not to worry and what I have read isn't really helping me feel any better. She died within inches of the fence where I have a bunch of babies that are about 6 to 8 wks old. If this was a heat related death, at least that's not contagious but before summer is over here in Texas it will be getting as much as 10 degrees hotter daily than the 95 it was today. So if that was the cause of her death, I need to be thinking about how to prevent more deaths. They have access to plenty of fresh water and shade. I am pretty new to chickens. What can be done to keep them from dying from heat? Thank you for any ideas!
