chickens dying!! ahhhh!!

[akyramoto]

about a week and half ago two of my chickens died. They were VERY lethargic, laid in one place, had runny poo that was kinda yellow & opaque. they laid in one spot & never moved - with their heads on the ground ( with their necks extended over kinda).

I tried to save those two - water with electrolytes, plain yogurt, regular water, some olive oil to may be pass any blockages. One seemed like she might make it through but the other one fought the force feeding & just wanted to die.


they both eventually died. I thought it was over - none of my other birds were acting strange.

this morning I went to check on the flock ( I hadnt really checked on them since saturday - I stayed i all day sunday)
one of my americuana's was dead on the floor. She didn't exhibit any of the signs the first two did -so as far as I know she went quickly.

I counted my chickens, I was missing one. On my way out of the yard, something told me to look under the truck in the yard ( the chickens frequently hang out under there)..yup another americuana dead.

I have no idea why they are dying!! this weekend wasn't as hot as last week, they have laying pellet for food & two big waterers. Plenty of shade & on hot days they have a mister on out by the coop. They have free roam of my property - an acre.

these last two died so suddenly I dont know of any 'symptoms'

Is it just too hot?

I'm getting worried about some of my other chickens - particularly the ones I raised by hand that are my first flock of chickens. I'm very attatched to them

does anyone have any ideas?

I had a hen die last year from a liver problem - they said she was grossly obese & her liver couldn't handle it. It was from wrong info from the feed store to feed my chickens straight scratch & thats it. ( i switched as soon as I found out about laying crumble) anyways the chickens I'm worried about are from the flock that got the 2 months worth of scratch.

sorry, kinda freaking out over here! my chickens have generally been very healthy.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Sorry I cant help you but you spelled "dieing" wrong. The one you spelled means that you're going to dye them a different color

 

[akyramoto]

Quote:
dy·ing /ˈdaɪɪŋ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dahy-ing] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1. ceasing to live; approaching death; expiring: a dying man.
2. of, pertaining to, or associated with death: his dying hour.
3. given, uttered, or manifested just before death: her dying words.
4. drawing to a close; ending: the dying year.
–noun
5. the act or process of ceasing to live, ending, or drawing to a close.

 

[chickenannie]

I don't know why your hens are dying, but in your last paragraph you mention that a hen died last year from liver problems. I just did research on this -- it may be "ascites". Do a search for the last thread I had on this a few weeks ago. Just go to Search, and look up Ascites. You can tell they have this because they're bellies bloat up with fluid and they are very rounded and squishy at the bottom and back of the belly and around the vent. It's a meat chicken disease usually, but layers get it too, and their liver is shot so the liver starts to leak fluid into their body cavity and eventually kills them. It's like hypertension and poor heart/vascular circulation (same as in humans).

 

[Rogue_Woman]

Do you have any pics of the sick ones? I hope someone can help you figure out what it is, nothing sucks worse than losing your flock to a mystery illness.

 

[krjwaj]

I don't have any thoughts other than maybe an infection?
Sorry for your loss.

 

[akyramoto]

i wanted to add that they have 24/7 access to oyster shells.

i had my new hampshire red act very similar last year. I managed to get her back to where she would walk around. I just kept giving her gatorade & oil, and cooked up some egg yolk for her. the next week she disappeared. I never found her so I imagine a predator got her.

I can take pics of them today & post.

After the other two died their vent area looked very soiled, it very well could be the ascites, and from what I've read theres not much I can do - besides drain them with a syringe. Also the first two didn't seem to have much in there crops - so no impaction there.

the frist two didn't seem 'swollen' or seem like they were retaining fluid.

3 of the chickens that died are about 2.5 years old, one was only a year old. They were perfectly normal a couple days ago - no lethargy from the most recent two.

As with any free range situation - they could've ate something weird......I have no idea.

 

[jjthink]

I am so sorry about your birds. I hope answers come soon and that you have no further losses or illness. I would try to bolster their strength with Avia Charge 2000 or similar in their water. And if you haven't already, a thorough cleaning and changing of bedding and floor covering (pine shavings or whatever), scrubbing down and disinfecting of everything, including water dispensers. Change out food for a fresh bag just in case there's something wrong with the food. These things are probably not the culprits but just in case......So sorry...will check back to see how it's going.

YOTR, there are a somewhat alarming number of BYC posts with really bad spelling of the most simple words (and I don't mean typos either!). But in this case, the OP was correct in typing "dying". To me, her post is too sad for spelling corrections in any case......

JJ

 

[akyramoto]

I will clean the entire coop today after work.

I'm having a hard time trying not to freak out while I'm at work

Is there anything I can give them since I dont have any Avia charge?

I'm going to try to go to the feed store @ lunch & see what they have there.



My BF just mentioned that maybe it could've been the combination of heat & smoke we've had the last few weeks????

 

[Wynette]

I would suggest that if you have a run you can put them in, put them there for awhile so you can watch them more closely. It would be VERY difficult to tell in a freerange situation what could be going wrong. If you quarantine them for awhile, you can watch poo more closely, make sure all are eating/drinking, etc. Just a suggestion. Oh, and I'm in agreement with jjthink on spelling errors! I'm a editor/proofreader, and it didn't bother me a bit. Hang in there, and GOOD LUCK!

Edited to add: When cleaning the coop, make sure to disinfect with something like Tek-Trol or Oxine. Oxine is great - you can also spray it directly on the birds if they have mild respiratory issues going on.