chickens dying daily! HELP!!!!

[thecityman]

I desperately need some help! I doubt you'll be able to tell me whats going on with the limited info I am going to provide, but maybe you can at least give a few possibilities? I've had chickens the last 4 years and never had anything like this.

Basically, every day I am having 1-2 of my chickens die. I just find them dead with no signs of trauma at all, so I'm pretty sure it isn't a predator. My chickens have the ability to free roam, but I keep feed and water in my small (20 x 30 ft) barn so they spend most of their time in that barn, though they sometimes do go outside for bugs, etc. I have chickens of all ages, from 3 years old to 2 months old. The dead ones seem to be mostly from a group that was born 7 months ago. I haven't lost any of the baby chicks, which I would think would be most suspetable to disease. I have used the same feed I have for years and they get plenty of it and water. THe heat here hasn't been all that bad lately. I haven't changed anything I do from the last 3-4 years, but I've lost 8 chickens in the last 4 days and one is clearly sick now. Its the only one I've noticed being sick before finding them dead. It basically just stands around and won't eat when I throw food out. when I approach it doesn't run off like they usually do. Just seems really lethargic.

It almost has to be some disease, but what? I am just devastated to be loosing all my chickens (I had 24 and am now at 16 in just a few days). I can't see any difference in their poop or any other thing different except the one that seems sick.

What would cause a seemingly healthy group of chickens to just start dying off in such large numbers in such a short time with almost no advance sign of illness?

thanks all.

 

[Eepster]

I have had chickens for about the same number of years as you have, so if you don't care to take my advice that's fine. I have never had any problems with sick/dying chickens, so I may be wrong. It does sound like a disease to me, or maybe even parasites. It may be that a bird or animal or something got into your coop and transmitted a disease. It could be a problem with your water, too. We catch our water in a rain barrel and one time I looked in it and saw little worms swimming inside it. We drained the barrel to be safe. If you get water from a creek there could something in it. Whatever the case, clean your coop out and maybe look up some chicken diseases and see if your chickens match any of the symptoms. Try to treat it if you can. If you can't figure anything out maybe take a chicken that you are sure is sick to the vet. You might also want to isolate any chickens that show signs of sickness to prevent your other healthy chickens from getting sick. I hope your chickens get well soon!

 

[casportpony]

You need to get a necropsy done one one. Where do you live?

-Kathy

 

[seminolewind]

Yea, if you're losing that many, you really need a necropsy. However, I would cut one open after death and see if there's anything suspicious that it ate.

I had 2 hens just die during the night about 3 days apart. The only thing I noticed was there was a dead mouse in a trap under some wire and it was no longer there. Has anyone put poison out? Look around your property and see if there's anything they could have gotten into. Are there any fumes in the barn?

I've also had 3 drop dead for unknown causes and I seriously think it was enteritis, which can be a silent killer. I put them all on sulfadimethoxine which is like Corid, just kills some bacterias as well.

 

[thecityman]

Thank you all very much for taking time to try and help. I live just north of Nashville, TN. I'm in a rural area and the only nearby vet admits to knowing almost nothing about chickens. I think you folks have given me 2 good theories to explore: First, the water. I get their water out of a pond near their barn, and the pond is lower than its ever been due to local drought. Today after first reading Eepster's post I put some of the water in a glass and there are some kind of tiny, tiny living things in it! Barely big enough to see with the eye, the look like tiny, tiny worms. It could be mosquito larvae, but also could be something worse. However, my goats drink that water along with all my chickens and only 2 a day are dying. Either way, I am going to start hauling good tapwater for my chickens for the next few weeks to see if it helps, so thanks for that tip.
The other theory you all just posed is the possibility that they are injesting something poison. I have fruit trees that I spray occasionally to kill bugs, and I've seen dead Japanese beetles under them. So perhaps the chickens have eaten the dead jap beetles and gotten poisoned that way??? My fruit is almost gone so I'll stop spraying now and see if that helps.
I also have no problem doing my own "autopsy" as suggested, so that's a good idea and if I find a stomach full of Japanese Beetles that might tell the story. If not, maybe I will see something else unusual as you suggested. So again, thanks for all your help.

Meanwhile, I was just reading through another thread here titles "HELP I am loosing my Flock" and that poster described almost exactly the same situation and symptoms I am seeing. Several people said the OP might have "Cocci". I don't know what that is but maybe I should look into it?

 

[cafarmgirl]

With the symptoms you described in the one bird my first thought was that I would be treating them all for coccidiosis so that I could at least rule that out as a possibility. You have a mixed age flock, it's always a possibility. It certainly will do no harm to treat and if that's what's going on you can put a stop to the dying. I think using sulfadimethoxine as mentioned by Seminolewind would probably be a good idea as it covers more then coccidiosis and you don't have time on your side with whatever this is.

A necropsy by a state lab or any place that can do more in depth testing for toxins and diseases would be extremely helpful.

 

[casportpony]

Necropsies on food animals are free in Tennessee.

Kord Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory - Kord Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory
TN Dept of Agriculture
436 Hogan Road
Nashville, Tennessee 37220
Phone: 615-837-5294 Fax 615-837-5250
http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/publications/labguide/laboratoryguide.pdf

This is how I ship mine:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/799747/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures

-Kathy

 

[thecityman]

Wow...how incredibly helpful, Kathy! THank-you so much for that information and related instructions. I was somewhat disregarding the necropsy suggestions because I figured it was expensive, but thanks to you it looks like it may cost little more than the shipping! If (when) I loose another chicken I am absolutely going to send it off. I'll contact them first to make sure its ok, so thanks for the information! I'll be sure and let everyone know what the outcome was if I do that.
kevin

 

[casportpony]

Wow...how incredibly helpful, Kathy! THank-you so much for that information and related instructions. I was somewhat disregarding the necropsy suggestions because I figured it was expensive, but thanks to you it looks like it may cost little more than the shipping! If (when) I loose another chicken I am absolutely going to send it off. I'll contact them first to make sure its ok, so thanks for the information! I'll be sure and let everyone know what the outcome was if I do that.
kevin

You're welcome! Be sure to ask them if you can use their FedEx account number, it will save a bunch on shipping.

-Kathy

 

[thecityman]

SCARY UPDATE:

A few minutes ago I walked outside and found an almost dead opossum laying in my front yard, about 100 yards from my chicken house. It could barely move and had no signs of trauma (as did none of my dead birds, so I'm not suggesting he is what killed them). I've never seen a dying possum on my property, especially in the middle of the day. CLEARLY there is something going on here. I'm now a little nervous, to be honest. what could possibly be killing both chickens and opposums? I have to suspect poison of some kind but I just can't think or find any possible contributor. I mentioned having sprayed fruit trees which resulted in poisoned Japanese beetles, but that has been more than a week.

Can you all think of anything (disease wise) that would kill both chickens AND opposums? What is going on here!

I don't have a dead chicken to send to necropsy yet. I probably should have considered having the possum examined but I put it out of its obvious misery and got rid of it already (burned it out of caution).

thanks all.