Chickens and Turkeys declining fast.

[mdeford09]

Owned and raised poultry for a long time and dealt with all of issues raising Geese, Ducks, Turkeys, and Chickens. However, I am running into something new. Or something that is just not presenting itself normally.


I have (had) 12 Brahma hens and 2 Brahma roosters all in their own run. This run is 75ft long x 30ft wide and 12ft tall with a 8ft wide 10ft long 12ft tall coop. The floor is grass. (I used to own many more birds but, age and time has forced me to cut down so, these guys have just have a luxury run all to themselves) Also, all of my chickens are less than 2 years old. I also have 1 bourbon red Tom and 1 turkey hen. These 2 are kept in their own separate run that has the same size coop but, the run is only 45 ft x 25ft x 12ft with grass for the floor, as well. Both runs are fully enclosed and separated. Chicken wire roofs and all.

4 nights ago, a had one of my roos drop dead. Randomly. I spend a lot of time with them and can always tell when they have an illness and I will treat it accordingly. But, he was just dead one morning. I checked to make sure he didn't seem to be attacked (by a predator or the other birds) and disposed of him. The next morning, I had a hen and the last rooster dead. No signs of predators or anything. I immediately inspected everyone but, they looked fine. No lethargy, wheezing, loss of appetite, nothing. Yesterday morning, 5 more gone and 1 out the door (alive but barely). It was a chilly out so I put her in a box with a warmed towel. She slowly passed over a few hours (I know, I should have culled her. I just wanted to see if anything was obviously wrong to help me treat the others. She just looked weak and couldn't stand)

I currently have 3 left and they are showing some symptoms now. They are looking pretty bad but, not anything truly identifiable. There is no wheezing or coughing, no discharge around the eyes or nose, their droppings are slightly more runny than usual but, not awful. And, their droppings look normal. However, the one that passed I checked their eyes to verify it wasn't merricks. It could be coccidiosis (though they are a bit old for it) so, I have them on some medicated chick feed and they are eating it. They have no lack of hunger at all. Their main symptoms are lethargy (not paralyzed but, resting after 10-15 minutes of eating) and rough looking feathers. Also, my turkey hen is obviously showing signs now as well so, it is contagious between the two. My turkey hen is acting the same way but, she is showing a lot of issues with coordination. (gave her a superworm and she fell face first leaning down to get it)

I have removed them all of them from their runs and isolated them (though, I don't think it is truly going to help as their pens are so large and so far apart, it has be in the air or bugs). They are all on medicated feed, electrolytes in their water, plenty of fresh grass, acified copper sulfate for the turkeys, rooster booster multi-wormer, and I have been contemplating on giving them some Tylan50/200 but, that is usually more for respiratory bacterial infections (it is just the only antibiotic I have on hand). Also, I worm them regularly with different wormers from tractor supply (I rotate them out to keep the worms from building resistance). Outside of calling the vet, I am at a loss of what to do.

What shows zero symptoms and then goes to lethargy, rough feathers, and death within a day and is contagious between chickens and turkeys? Also, what is a good plan of attack for saving them, if possible. If not, how do I clean everything to make sure it doesn't happen to my next flock?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Mareks does not cause eye symptoms in a lot of cases—it is one of the four types of Mareks. The best way to know exactly what is going on would be to get a necropsy by your state vet or poultry lab. You could get some droppings checked by a vet for coccidiosis and for worms. Or you could give them a weeks treatment of Corid (amprollium) in water. Dosage ia 2 tsp or 10 ml of the liquid Corid per gallon of water, changed daily for 7 days. Then worm them all with Valbazen or SafeGuard, which will treat most worms in chickens. Mareks would probably not affect your turkeys. There could be something like enteritis happeening. Here is a link to find your state vet pr poultry lab for a necropsy, and the body should be kept cold but not frozen:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[mdeford09]

Thanks for the reply. I am going to take a carcass to the vet for inspection in just a few minutes, actually. Sadly, all 3 of my remaining hens and the turkey hen have passed as well. My tom still seems to be acting normal. No major changes at all. Fingers crossed she can figure it out before it gets him too.

I explained everything to the vet and she believes some sort of poison is the most likely culprit. Perhaps some pesticides made their way into their runs via bugs or may be even some fertilizer. (I haven't sprayed for any bugs or fertilized my yard and I am about an acre away from my neighbors so, no idea).. But, when I explained it she had zero idea of any sort of bacteria or virus that causes such a rapid decline, with no symptoms.

Very saddening. These guys and gals have been my most tame flock yet.

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh no, I am so sorry that you have lost the others. So glad that you are getting a necropsy to find a cause of death. Can you check to see if there is any mold in the feed, or if you notice a funny odor or a blue green color? Also check around for any spills from an automobile or heavy equipment, where the chickens could have been pecking. Botulism can be a problem if there is a compost bed, or any runoff from a flooded area where there might be a dead animal or fish.

 

[mdeford09]

yeah, I cannot believe they passed so quickly. A few hours ago, they were just lazy. Still eating and chattering. Went out and everyone had just laid down and passed, like they were asleep.

If I am going to raise anymore, I need to verify what in the heck caused this. If not, I will just be bringing them to their deaths. So, the vet needs to do a necropsy.

No mold or funky smells, at least not that I can tell by sniffing and sifting it around by hand. They are given fresh feed daily and the feed is stored inside my barn in a plastic trash can and the lid secured with a bungee strap. )Critters can get through almost everything else.)

Aside from the birds that passed over night, there has been nothing else dead in the pen. At least not that I know of. If a few mice made their way in and died in a corner, I probably would not have known it.

I am honestly at a complete loss. I just have to wait on the autopsy.

 

[mdeford09]

Thought I would message and let you (and any readers) know what the results of the autopsy were.

Coccidiosis. A very rapid and, internally, traumatic outbreak. She (the vet) believes the outbreak was spread from bugs during the warm front we had a few weeks ago. (high 80s for several days and the bugs were out in swarms). Which is how everyone got around the same time.

My Tom has been eating medicated feed since Friday (medicated specifically for Coccidiosis) and I have been giving him Corrid in his water as well. And, he's doing just fine. In fact, I don't think he ever truly went down. Either way, he will be getting a full 5 days treatment.

I will be bleaching both coops to try kill anything living in/on the wood floor.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you so much for the necropsy results. It must have been a bad strain of coccidiosis. Bleach is not that helpful to kill coccidia. 10% ammonia may be better to disinfect equipment. Removal of droppings and bedding, then adding clean bedding after cleaning the coop may help. Bugs and flies can spread coccidia around. Frozen droppings can still contain coccidia.

 

[mdeford09]

Thanks for the info. I have lots of ammonia so, I will go ahead and use that.

Thankfully, I keep my coops very clean (which makes this outbreak even more surprising). I installed wood floors in my coops specifically so it would be easier to scrap out the shavings. And, I do so at least once every 2 weeks but try for every week.

Though, that probably means that they got it in the the grass somewhere.

Is there a simple way to treat the ground for it, without dumping bleach or ammonia all over the run? I worked pretty hard to make sure they had lots of healthy grasses to munch on. I'd hate to kill it all.

 

[Eggcessive]

You cannot sterilize the ground. Just clean up droppings and try to keep things dry. I like to stir bedding and add new when needed. Sand is great for runs. Most animals build up a tolerance for the different strains of coccidia in the soil and poop as they grow up. The medicated feed is supposed to help with that. Coccidia is pretty much everywhere. In summer when the grass is thick, that is a good place for them.

 

[mdeford09]

I read a few online articles about spraying the ground with ammonia as well but, I am not too keen on it.

I will just clean the inside, treat everything with ammonia, and feed medicated feed to any chicks/poults I decide on purchasing.

It's a shame, these were by far the most friendly chickens I managed to raise. I've always had a tough time getting a group of chicks to really bond with me or my kids. (they usually bond with each other) But, these gals really enjoyed our company and would follow us from a young age.