6 chickens dropped dead overnight, autopsy finds nothing!

[danalister]

I apologize, I didn't realize that you were in Zimbabwe. I ignorantly figured you were in the USA, where people put all manners of stupid things into their grass and soil to make it look 'perfect'!

Most of the time there is no danger in compost, but, when conditions are right, rotting organic matter (especially rotting carcasses, but it can happen with vegetation too) can produce botulism toxins, which when consumed in large enough quantities will kill smaller animals very quickly. The toxin is actually caused by a bacteria, called Clostridium botulinum, however it is important to note that this bacteria grows under anaerobic conditions. This is a fancy way of saying that the bacteria need a low or no oxygen environment to thrive. Therefore, botulism bacteria thrive where conditions are hot/warm and moist, where there isn't much air.
If you turn or aerate the compost often, the chances of botulism and other anaerobic bacteria are much lower.
Botulism also occurs frequently in wet, stagnant areas such as ponds, stagnant puddles, vernal pools... where warm conditions and a lack of air can cause rotting vegetation and/or carcasses (flesh) to concentrate and for botulism bacteria to grow.

I am not saying this is what happened, but if you have any of the above conditions where the chickens and/or rabbits have gone, it might be worth considering.

Avocados do have toxins in them. Avocados have persin in the seed (pit), skin, and very fine papery membrane around the pit. Persin is known to cause toxicity in birds, rabbits, horses, and ruminants (cows, sheep, etc).
I don't know if it's possible that your birds and your neighbor's rabbits previously ignored the avocados and then suddenly had a feast one day? It does seem very silly to think of them ignoring the avocados/leaves/etc forever and then eating a bunch one day. But it's impossible to rule it out, because it can cause the animal to die very quickly if enough persin is consumed. The animal usually dies of heart failure and/or extreme respiratory distress.

I hope that you are able to find an answer, somehow!

thank you, the botulism sounds like it really could be a possibility, it is rainy season, there is lots of stagnant water around, an thinking about it a couple of baby chicks died and I did not find their bodies (our garden is very big) so that is a possibility, and there could be other dead things. I'll speak to the vet about that today.

 

[danalister]

 

[Grandma Anne]

Six of my chickens dropped dead last night. Literally just fell off the perch. Different ages, breeds even, one was the highest ranking rooster and one was a baby about a month old. I took them all to the vet for lab tests and autopsy. He could not find anything , no sign of disease, he said they were some of the healthiest chickens he has seen. He said the deaths must have been very sudden as there was no sign of liver damage or anything like that. He even went as far as to pluck them and look for snake bites but there was nothing. A great mystery. The only thing we can think is that they ate something poisonous, but what could that be. They wander around in the same garden eating the same things everyday. To add to the mystery my gardener keeps rabbits on the the same property and last week, all fourteen of his rabits also died mysteriously overnight, with no signs of anything and they are in a cage and fed by him.
Has anyone had chickens die from eating a certain plant and if so what was that plant.
we have many of the plants on the list that are toxic to chickens in our garden, avocado, nettles, I cant remember the others.
does anyone have any ideas.

Avocados are poisonous.