Chickens and Chicks dying

[BirdFarmer21]

Hello I really need some help guys. I have around 160 chickens and they are starting to die. A few weeks ago we found one dead, then we thought it was because of age, then we found another one and another one, and about every week or 5 days we would find a dead chicken. We thought it was because they may not be drinking enough to water so we made sure that they would always have food and water, but we keep finding dead chickens. We may think that they are suffocating themselves when they are sleeping at night and when they wake up they are loopy and go outside for a few hours then die because lack of air, ( they are free range chickens so they are outside during the day and inside at night). We also had 11 chicks big enough to be outsid,. this morning when I let them out they were all ok and they had food and water, when I got home from school I found 7 dead inside the coup. There were 5 sleeping together in one egg laying nest and 6 in another the night before so they weren't to couped up. And as I said, in the morning they were perfectly fine but when I got home 7 were dead they were also very beautiful EE and BSL and barred rock also some other breeds. Please help me I'm extremely desperate!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry you are having trouble.
Can you post photos of your coop setup, feed, water stations and free range area??
How is the weather where you are? Is it hot, cold, etc.
How many feed and water stations do you have?
Do they chickens roost at night?
What are the dimensions of your housing?
How old are the chickens?

Suffocating while sleeping or piling could be a sign of not enough room to roost and not enough ventilation in housing.
Sleeping in nesting boxes can be a bad habit, makes the boxes and eggs dirty, it would be beneficial if you don't have enough roosts to install more or provide alternative roosting space.

 

[Donna R Raybon]

Have you treated for coccidia or are they on medicated feed? Are these egg later or meat breed?

The older dead birds does sound like how I have seen coccidia kill them.

 

[BirdFarmer21]

I'm sorry you are having trouble.
Can you post photos of your coop setup, feed, water stations and free range area??
How is the weather where you are? Is it hot, cold, etc.
How many feed and water stations do you have?
Do they chickens roost at night?
What are the dimensions of your housing?
How old are the chickens?

Suffocating while sleeping or piling could be a sign of not enough room to roost and not enough ventilation in housing.
Sleeping in nesting boxes can be a bad habit, makes the boxes and eggs dirty, it would be beneficial if you don't have enough roosts to install more or provide alternative roosting space.

Hello thanks for responding I don't have photos right now but they have enough room. The nesting boxes have golf balls in them so the chickens know that there is where you lay not poop and it does actually work. I will post some photos tonight and show you, my chickens are about one year and a half. We have 7 watering stations and 4 food stations. Thankyou so much for helping 3 more died yesterday I honestly don't know what's going on. We gave them some medication (antibiotics) in there water and so far so good. And when the chickens sleep in the roosts they usually don't poop in there but they make eggs so it's a win win.

 

[BirdFarmer21]

Have you treated for coccidia or are they on medicated feed? Are these egg later or meat breed?

The older dead birds does sound like how I have seen coccidia kill them.

These are meat and layer chickens they are not quite old about 1 1/2 years old. We gave them some antibiotics in their water and so far they are doing well.