6 week old AC chicks drop dead

[GlicksChicks]

I contacted mine and they gave me compensation ones, but only after trying to pin the death on me. Do you think that could be the reason they tried to pin it on me?

Are you asking if they tried to pin it on you because they don't want to admit the possibility of a large amount of incest in their ACs? If that it what you are asking, then it is possible. Once they admit that their ACs are heavily incest, there may be less people wanting to buy them because of the complications.

The way they usually do their breeding is to breed their original stock and keep the offspring with the most black and then breed them, then that process repeats over and over again and eventually you get heavily inbred birds. They probably cull the ones with visible deformities and sell the ones that look normal, but they cannot tell if they have something wrong inside.

 

[GlicksChicks]

My situation was almost exact to yours, and my ACs looked exactly like they when I found them in the morning, curled back almost like they had a seizure.

I am thinking their organs failed on them. It cannot be a coincidence that multiple people have had their ACs drop dead at around the same age. The AC has gotten so popular that so many people are breeding them and they are being crazily inbred.

 

[FunClucks]

Did the birds look wet like that on their heads and wings and torso when you found them? Kinda looks like a snake got ahold of them, and couldn't swallow them past a certain point, so spit them out. Might be worth a close inspection for injury and a posting (or cross posting of this thread) on the Predator Forum. When my POL pullets/hens died of a (probable) heart attack (had one egger and a couple cornish cross meat birds drop dead on me), it just looked like they were lying down with necks stretched out, on tummy or side. No wetness, injuries, wings against body. No blood or other injuries.

Did you have adequate grit available to the chicks? Could be they got ahold of something and that caused an issue. I'd carefully inspect the inside of the crop, the inside of the gizzard, and every inch of the intestines to see if you can identify a blockage or toxic substance like a piece of metal, or who knows what. Also check the internal organs for swelling and deformity (liver, crop, heart, kidneys, etc.). The Meat Bird Forum has a lot of info on identifying healthy and unhealthy internals of a chicken. The search function can probably help you out there. "healthy chicken, signs of disease, healthy organs, etc" might be some good search terms. The Merck Veterinary Manual site can also be helpful. Maybe research signs of a heart attack - I don't know if there are any, but MERCK manual would know.

Before you start your autopsy, I'd look for bruising or wounds, punctures, etc. on the outside of the chicken commensurate with predator attack. Might be harder to see on AC, but worth a try. There's probably pictures on here somewhere for a guideline. In normal chickens, there's swelling and darkening of the area around an injury/bruise (black, blue, green), and that stuff happens before the chicken dies, so it can stay in place after they're dead. I'd also look for any sign neck has been broken or bones dislocated - this might be hard to tell for a beginner.

You may have to wait until rigor has passed to autopsy, or you'll miss a broken neck or bone because the muscles are holding everything together. Or you can do internals now, and come back in a few days to check the neck and such after rigor passes. Rigor can pass in 3 days or less depending on size and age of the bird, probably less in this case. Just keep lots of ice in the cooler, without trying to actually freeze. I think 40F is a good target temperature for chilling. And these birds are so small you should be able to chill them rapidly, so i'm not worried the internal organs will "go bad" in that time enough that you can't tell what's going on. [meat birds without organs in, full size 7 lbs carcass take anywhere from 3-5 days for the muscles to loosen up again after rigor. Your birds are 1 lb or less, so will take less time.]

So sorry you lost your chicken!

 

[PTR]

Did the birds look wet like that on their heads and wings and torso when you found them? Kinda looks like a snake got ahold of them, and couldn't swallow them past a certain point, so spit them out. Might be worth a close inspection for injury and a posting (or cross posting of this thread) on the Predator Forum. When my POL pullets/hens died of a (probable) heart attack (had one egger and a couple cornish cross meat birds drop dead on me), it just looked like they were lying down with necks stretched out, on tummy or side. No wetness, injuries, wings against body. No blood or other injuries.

Did you have adequate grit available to the chicks? Could be they got ahold of something and that caused an issue. I'd carefully inspect the inside of the crop, the inside of the gizzard, and every inch of the intestines to see if you can identify a blockage or toxic substance like a piece of metal, or who knows what. Also check the internal organs for swelling and deformity (liver, crop, heart, kidneys, etc.). The Meat Bird Forum has a lot of info on identifying healthy and unhealthy internals of a chicken. The search function can probably help you out there. "healthy chicken, signs of disease, healthy organs, etc" might be some good search terms. The Merck Veterinary Manual site can also be helpful. Maybe research signs of a heart attack - I don't know if there are any, but MERCK manual would know.

Before you start your autopsy, I'd look for bruising or wounds, punctures, etc. on the outside of the chicken commensurate with predator attack. Might be harder to see on AC, but worth a try. There's probably pictures on here somewhere for a guideline. In normal chickens, there's swelling and darkening of the area around an injury/bruise (black, blue, green), and that stuff happens before the chicken dies, so it can stay in place after they're dead. I'd also look for any sign neck has been broken or bones dislocated - this might be hard to tell for a beginner.

You may have to wait until rigor has passed to autopsy, or you'll miss a broken neck or bone because the muscles are holding everything together. Or you can do internals now, and come back in a few days to check the neck and such after rigor passes. Rigor can pass in 3 days or less depending on size and age of the bird, probably less in this case. Just keep lots of ice in the cooler, without trying to actually freeze. I think 40F is a good target temperature for chilling. And these birds are so small you should be able to chill them rapidly, so i'm not worried the internal organs will "go bad" in that time enough that you can't tell what's going on. [meat birds without organs in, full size 7 lbs carcass take anywhere from 3-5 days for the muscles to loosen up again after rigor. Your birds are 1 lb or less, so will take less time.]

So sorry you lost your chicken!

I think I saw small puncture wounds on its neck?
I had to abort my mission because it started storming. It was sprinkling almost the whole time, but it started storming badly.

I think I saw lice/mites on it… I’m going to treat my whole flock tomorrow. Can I treat my 12 week old Polish? What about the 6 week old EE cockerel?
I lost one to a rat snake when they were about two weeks old. The rat snake also got another EE the same age.

I don’t know if anything was wrong.. I couldn’t tell.
I also don’t know if I did anything wrong - I probably did.
I do know that its organs were not black. Could it have been a Sumatra?

 

[FunClucks]

I think I saw small puncture wounds on its neck?
I had to abort my mission because it started storming. It was sprinkling almost the whole time, but it started storming badly.

I think I saw lice/mites on it… I’m going to treat my whole flock tomorrow. Can I treat my 12 week old Polish? What about the 6 week old EE cockerel?
I lost one to a rat snake when they were about two weeks old. The rat snake also got another EE the same age.

I don’t know if anything was wrong.. I couldn’t tell.
I also don’t know if I did anything wrong - I probably did.
I do know that its organs were not black. Could it have been a Sumatra?View attachment 3854547View attachment 3854548View attachment 3854549View attachment 3854550View attachment 3854551View attachment 3854552View attachment 3854553View attachment 3854554View attachment 3854555View attachment 3854556View attachment 3854557View attachment 3854558View attachment 3854559View attachment 3854560View attachment 3854561

Good job on the autopsy! It's not an easy thing for many people to do, especially if you cared about the chicken.

If you found puncture wounds on the neck that look like a snake and not a chicken got to it, combined with the wetness of head and torso (feathers all matted up), I'm gonna hazard a guess that a snake or other predator got it. Internals all look healthy to me - I'm not an expert, but I've processed a slew of chickens for meat, and the heart, liver, and what I can see of the intestines look healthy. Were you able to open up the gizzard and crop and check for foreign objects?

As for the color of the meat and organs, yes, AC are supposed to have black flesh and organs. In this case, I suspect it's just not a very well bred AC, but you're right, it could be some other breed of chicken, I don't know enough to hazard a guess on that one.

For the lice/mites you found, I'd inspect the rest of your flock individually and see if you can locate them on more members of your flock. Whether you can treat birds that young and what to use is a good topic for a post in the Emergency Forum, if no one reading this thread answers your question.

Hope you're able to figure things out. Sending you supportive thoughts.

 

[GlicksChicks]

I think I saw small puncture wounds on its neck?
I had to abort my mission because it started storming. It was sprinkling almost the whole time, but it started storming badly.

I think I saw lice/mites on it… I’m going to treat my whole flock tomorrow. Can I treat my 12 week old Polish? What about the 6 week old EE cockerel?
I lost one to a rat snake when they were about two weeks old. The rat snake also got another EE the same age.

I don’t know if anything was wrong.. I couldn’t tell.
I also don’t know if I did anything wrong - I probably did.
I do know that its organs were not black. Could it have been a Sumatra?View attachment 3854547View attachment 3854548View attachment 3854549View attachment 3854550View attachment 3854551View attachment 3854552View attachment 3854553View attachment 3854554View attachment 3854555View attachment 3854556View attachment 3854557View attachment 3854558View attachment 3854559View attachment 3854560View attachment 3854561

If a snake got to it, there is a chance that it could still be hiding somewhere in the coop. Staying near it's food source. If you lost multiple to a snake, then it is very likely that it is still there because it had to be there long enough to go for both at different times.