Chicken die-off

[Marintzer]

We've lost 7 chickens to sudden and unexplained deaths in the last 3 days. I found 2 dead first thing Sunday morning and then 2 more died throughout the day. Today I found 2 more dead and a third that will be soon. Our local vets aren't very familiar with chicken health but I started treating their water with Tylosin yesterday on the advice of the vet. All but 1 were white chickens...some leghorns and the others Calif whites. The first 4 were pullets that we received through the mail this year from McMurray. I thought that might be a clue but today we lost a mix of ages and most of those were purchased through Orscheln's. I didn't let them free range on Sunday and none died yesterday. They did free range yesterday evening and now more are dead. Thoughts? They display no symptoms before dying that I have been able to notice. Seems like they might be getting into something? A couple of things that occurred to me are 1. we have a great many bats roosting in our barn and the girls have been in there much more lately than they ever have...maybe the poo is toxic? And 2. they've been eating more elderberries than normal....could those be toxic? I think I'm going to keep them penned up for now to be on the safe side. I really don't want to lose the whole flock!

 

[Kiki]

You mention mixed ages but roughly how old/young are they?
I would keep them locked up until your figure it out.

The American Elderberry (Sambucus nigra L. ssp. ... The seeds, stems, leaves and roots of the Black Elder are all poisonous to humans. They contain a cyanide-inducing glycoside. Eating a sufficient quantity of these cyanide-inducing glycosides can cause a toxic buildup of cyanide in the body and make you quite ill.

 

[Marintzer]

You mention mixed ages but roughly how old/young are they?
I would keep them locked up until your figure it out.

The American Elderberry (Sambucus nigra L. ssp. ... The seeds, stems, leaves and roots of the Black Elder are all poisonous to humans. They contain a cyanide-inducing glycoside. Eating a sufficient quantity of these cyanide-inducing glycosides can cause a toxic buildup of cyanide in the body and make you quite ill.

Aside from the pullets the dead girls have been 1.5 and 2.5 years old. The eldest chicken in my flock is 4.5 years old and she's fine so far. I don't think I've lost any 3.5 year olds to this, either, but I'm starting to lose track.

 

[Kiki]

I read that raw elderberries are toxic to humans...I have no clue if they would be to chickens or not, but I would not feed anything to my flock that I couldn't eat.

 

[Marintzer]

Yea, I'm not sure, either. I know the songbirds eat them but maybe chickens shouldn't? Unfortunately when my girls free-range they have access to those bushes so I guess that's another reason to keep them penned up for now.

 

[Kiki]

Would you be able to send one for a necropsy?

 

[Marintzer]

Boy, I don't know. I'm not even sure how to check on that or who to contact.

 

[Kiki]

What state are you in?

 

[21hens-incharge]

I also suspect the elderberries.

Anything that has cyanide in it I would consider toxic.

 

[rebrascora]

I'm not sure if your Elderberries are different to ours here in the UK, but my hens love Elderberries and they are a regular treat at this time of year without any problem. I actually gather a few bunches each day for the girls since they no longer get to free range due to fox attacks.