Advice on how to treat my flock.

[DragonOxeWeasel]

I lost one hen Monday and 4 more yesndterday and I have no idea whats going on.
Peaches was a 3 year old hen that we loved dearly. We found her monday in her nest box struggling to breathe. Her comb turned purple and she had diarrhea on her bottom. I thought it might be gape worm and gave her ivermectin. She died in a couple hours. Sunday she was a happy healthy girl and the next she was dead.

The rest of the flock seemed healthy so I didnt do a whole flock worming. Yesterday we lost 4 birds. Only 1 has been found. He was in the woods and looked like he was confused and seeking a quite place to die. The others must had died in a similar manner but were found before us.

I just dont know what to do with the rest of the flock. Everyone is acting normal but I'm afraid they are being poisoned or have some disease.

Please help!

 

[Pathfinders]

Wow, this sounds so distressing, I am so sorry this is happening to you!

The first thing that comes to mind is, is it possible the feed has gotten moldy? That would act as a poison indeed. Check the feed to see if there are clumps, and smell them to see if they are moldy if so.

If it is, dump it and replace immediately.

If the feed is ok, then you need to check where the chickens go to see if there's some other source of potential poison. Do your birds free-range? Can you confine them somewhat for a few days until you can determine that their environment is free from poison/rotting things?

Tell us a little more about the environment. Are you on a farm, in the suburbs, urban chickens? I presume, with a rooster, you're in a rural area. How close are your neighbors?

Give us a little more info, I am sure others will chime in here with questions I am not thinking of. I will keep my fingers crossed that you lose no more birds!

 

[ten chicks]

I lost one hen Monday and 4 more yesndterday and I have no idea whats going on.
Peaches was a 3 year old hen that we loved dearly. We found her monday in her nest box struggling to breathe. Her comb turned purple and she had diarrhea on her bottom. I thought it might be gape worm and gave her ivermectin. She died in a couple hours. Sunday she was a happy healthy girl and the next she was dead.

The rest of the flock seemed healthy so I didnt do a whole flock worming. Yesterday we lost 4 birds. Only 1 has been found. He was in the woods and looked like he was confused and seeking a quite place to die. The others must had died in a similar manner but were found before us.

I just dont know what to do with the rest of the flock. Everyone is acting normal but I'm afraid they are being poisoned or have some disease.

Please help!

No symptoms? Did you introduce any new birds recently? It is possible the missing 3 were taken by some predator. What symptoms did the rooster you found have? Your first girl may have died from some circulatory issues,specifically heart related(possibly related to a respiratory infection not noticed)purple comb suggests this.

 

[DragonOxeWeasel]

Wow, this sounds so distressing, I am so sorry this is happening to you!

The first thing that comes to mind is, is it possible the feed has gotten moldy? That would act as a poison indeed. Check the feed to see if there are clumps, and smell them to see if they are moldy if so.

If it is, dump it and replace immediately.

If the feed is ok, then you need to check where the chickens go to see if there's some other source of potential poison. Do your birds free-range? Can you confine them somewhat for a few days until you can determine that their environment is free from poison/rotting things?

Tell us a little more about the environment. Are you on a farm, in the suburbs, urban chickens? I presume, with a rooster, you're in a rural area. How close are your neighbors?

Give us a little more info, I am sure others will chime in here with questions I am not thinking of. I will keep my fingers crossed that you lose no more birds!

The feed is fine. We feed an organic feed thats so exspensive we can only buy a bag or two at a time and with 40 chickens 50lbs goes pretty fast. BUT who knows what they eat while free-roaming. I have seen them eat fresh dog poo.

We live on 4+ acres behind a small neighborhood. I can see 4 houses from my property. The other 3 sides of the property back up to dense woods. We try to contain the birds in the yard but the fence really doesn't hold them. Sometimes they roam in neighbors yards but most of the time they stick to the woods when they leave. I talk to all my neighbors and everyone says they enjoy their chicken sighti


By the time I found him the next morning he had been stepped on by a goat. His comb had tuned pink and orange but I think that was just from dying. I looks like he just sat down and died.

Some of the three could be predator related. But its rare we loose one.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Pathfinders]

To protect your birds from predators during the day, you might want to consider using electric poultry netting from a source like Premiere. Even if not electrified, it will contain your birds and keep them from roaming into other yards/danger.

The stuff wears like iron! Have a couple sets that are nine years old that we still use, and we use it all over the farm (even to keep the dogs in the back.) Great stuff!

 

[DragonOxeWeasel]

To protect your birds from predators during the day, you might want to consider using electric poultry netting from a source like Premiere. Even if not electrified, it will contain your birds and keep them from roaming into other yards/danger.

The stuff wears like iron! Have a couple sets that are nine years old that we still use, and we use it all over the farm (even to keep the dogs in the back.) Great stuff!

Between the donkey and our dogs, the chickens are pretty safe in the yard. We have field fencing that some birds can squeeze through and others can fly over. We are saving up now to replace it with the small no-climb fence.


Are there any parasites that could kill birds that quickly?

 

[Pathfinders]

I suppose if they were very badly infested with worms or mites, that might happen, but it seems highly unlikely.