Ants and Centipedes

[greenleafpotter]

We just started raising chickens (we live in Puerto Rico) and in this week, we've found 8 peeps dead. They seem to be all dying in a similar way and I'm not sure if fire ants or perhaps centipede bits? Does anyone have any info on this? They seem to stop walking or are at least slow and within 5 hours they seem to be gasping for air, with a limp neck for an hour or so more. Maybe it's a disease/infection/parasite?

 

[dawg53]

I dont know how old your chickens are. If they are chicks, I could understand them being swarmed by fire ants and killed, but you would see the ants on them. We have fire ants here and my chickens seem to avoid them. I would also think that a chick could be possibly killed by a centipede, not sure about a full grown chicken. I believe a full grown chicken would gobble a centipede up after pecking it to death. Most likely you're dealing with a disease, like coccidia if they are chicks. If they are grown chickens, it could be any number of things...disease, virus, external or internal parasites, fungal, moldy feed etc...ETA; you can take a fecal sample to a vet and they'll be able to tell you if you're dealing with cocci and/or internal parasites.