Hello everyone- I need help because I am at my wits end.
I have taken care of /done rehab for chickens for the last 6 years (pigeons for 24 years) and am at a total loss.
I keep having chicks die all from the same symptoms at a 4/10 rate. I have no idea what is going on. I live in Hawaii and my chickens are a combination of wild/domestic. The adults live outside. I give them fake eggs to sit on when they go broody to try to control the flock, but inevitably since they are free range (locked up at night) one or two hens will run into the forest and come out with chicks 21 days later. Sadly most of my hens are terrible moms so I intervene and bring the chicks inside to raise until they are old enough to be ok outside. I clean their cage daily with chlorahexidine, change their papers 2x a day, have a good square heat source over them at the correct height, vitamins in their water, clean their water/food containers with bleach, 18% chick feed- changing their feed and water multiple times a day. I am very vigilant and want to give them the best chance at life.
This spring so many having been dying with the exact same symptoms each time. They are dropping like flies. Usually one or two out of a big clutch might not make it but this is a massacre. It's been horrible. It goes as follows:
1.The chick will start screaming for no reason. I physically put it under the heat house and it still screams.
2. Then legs stop working.
3.Then it becomes totally lethargic, doesn't eat or drink (I have hand fed several but it ends up making no difference)
4. Seisures ongoing until it eventually spasms and dies. Everytime within 24 hours.
At one point the neighbor boy gave me 4 chicks that he found to raise because he doesn't have a setup and his parents don't want chickens. Literally all 4 of them died the next day- same symptoms.
I sent out 5 bodies to get a necropsy from Hawaii Agricultural Dept on Oahu after having no luck finding any vet on my island that would do one for me. They did not find Avian pox and ruled out Mareks. They told me they may have more results for me soon but will be very general as they are only really interested in Avian pox/flu.
Poop is normal, no respitory symptoms. A couple I syringe fed but it made no difference- they still died 25 hours later.
Please help me.
I have taken care of /done rehab for chickens for the last 6 years (pigeons for 24 years) and am at a total loss.
I keep having chicks die all from the same symptoms at a 4/10 rate. I have no idea what is going on. I live in Hawaii and my chickens are a combination of wild/domestic. The adults live outside. I give them fake eggs to sit on when they go broody to try to control the flock, but inevitably since they are free range (locked up at night) one or two hens will run into the forest and come out with chicks 21 days later. Sadly most of my hens are terrible moms so I intervene and bring the chicks inside to raise until they are old enough to be ok outside. I clean their cage daily with chlorahexidine, change their papers 2x a day, have a good square heat source over them at the correct height, vitamins in their water, clean their water/food containers with bleach, 18% chick feed- changing their feed and water multiple times a day. I am very vigilant and want to give them the best chance at life.
This spring so many having been dying with the exact same symptoms each time. They are dropping like flies. Usually one or two out of a big clutch might not make it but this is a massacre. It's been horrible. It goes as follows:
1.The chick will start screaming for no reason. I physically put it under the heat house and it still screams.
2. Then legs stop working.
3.Then it becomes totally lethargic, doesn't eat or drink (I have hand fed several but it ends up making no difference)
4. Seisures ongoing until it eventually spasms and dies. Everytime within 24 hours.
At one point the neighbor boy gave me 4 chicks that he found to raise because he doesn't have a setup and his parents don't want chickens. Literally all 4 of them died the next day- same symptoms.
I sent out 5 bodies to get a necropsy from Hawaii Agricultural Dept on Oahu after having no luck finding any vet on my island that would do one for me. They did not find Avian pox and ruled out Mareks. They told me they may have more results for me soon but will be very general as they are only really interested in Avian pox/flu.
Poop is normal, no respitory symptoms. A couple I syringe fed but it made no difference- they still died 25 hours later.
Please help me.
I appreciate your help so much. Before I posted this I had that thought for the first time today- could this be poisoning? I have no idea what it could be though that could be poisoning them..the cage is located in my storage room and everything I have in there is kept in closed bins. I don't spray anything like pesticides. I thought maybe it could be the cage- since it is old and has some rust (waiting to have no chicks to finally take it apart and derust it) but at the same time I don't think it could be that because this exact same thing happened with the batch I had sent out to the Ag Department and they were situated in a plastic bin with the puppy pad papers I changed daily. The puppy pads are from Costco. I don't think it could be gas or anything because I don't have any natural gas/propane in my house. Several of the chicks who died I took hours after hatching while they were still under mom- so they had no chance to injest anything. Their feed doesn't have any visible mold. I cleaned the nest boxes with chlorahexidine and put new straw in them right before the last chick I took right from the mom died. The only thing I can think of is to move them to another room and see if that changes anything- but it just seems so strange- I can't think of anything that they would be exposed to in that room to create a problem. It's always seisures ongoing before they die so it does seem plausible it's something affecting their spinal cord or poisoning. No visible poop issues- it looks super normal.
