Chickens dying in a row

[MBM]

Hi. My chickens have been dying one after another in a row. I'm wondering what could have caused this? I know there are probably a lot of reasons. So everything seems perfectly fine and normal, the next day I come in and I notice that one chicken is standing on the floor facing a wall, kinda seperate from the others and not moving and she looked like she puffed up her feathers. I went to check her and she seemed kinda limp, and was just standing there with her eyes closed, she didn't want to move. I figured she was sick and would not make it. The others seemed totally fine. That evening she died. The next day I come in and another one is dead, and it goes on like that for 4 days which brings us to today. With the others I checked them and they seemed to be doing fine, acting like usual, they didn't act "sick" like the first one did. They drink and eat. I did notice a long time ago that 1 chicken had a really dirty bum, like diarrhea splattered all over her back end. But that I noticed at least 4 months ago. They all laid eggs right up until the end. Any ideas what this could be? I have never had this happen before, and they were eating the feed we always bought for them. My husband told me yesterday that his co-worker had the same issue, except that the guy came into his coop and noticed it was too quite and then he saw that all chickens are dead except 1. My brother in law also mentioned last summer that his chickens are dying one by one. But we have never been to their places or ever saw their chickens, so I don't think we brought some disease back with us from them. I did put my ducks into the chicken coop around 2 weeks ago though. Does that have anything to do with it? The ducks seems to be fine. We also have goats and pigs in the barn, I was wondering if this "disease" will affect then as well?

 

[Eggcessive]

What state are you in? The best way to get a diagnosis is to send or take a body in to your state vet for a necropsy. It is not that expensive, and they can test for many things after examining organs.

Have you looked at your feed container for any bad odor or mold? Mold can kill quickly. Mold or poison comes to mind when losing them together. Coccidiosis might also be a problem, but usually more common in young birds or sickly birds. Corid treats coccidiosis.

Do you give you chickens grit to help digest food? What do you feed? How old are your chickens? Can you feel of their crops to see if they are emptying by early morning. What do their poops look like, and pictures are welcome. Sorry for your loss. This is a list of state vets to ask about how to get a necropsy or autopsy:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

 

[MBM]

I'm in Canada. Their food container hangs in the air, like 2-3 inches off the ground, and it's all dry and doesn't have any mold that I can see. The chickens were older already, some probably 3 years old and some 2. They were fed hen laying ration. Unfortunately I can't feel anything by them anymore, since they are all gone now and I have none left. Their poops looked fine as far as I could tell, I didn't notice anything unusual. At this point I'm just wondering if this will affect the rest of the animals

 

[Eggcessive]

I have noticed mold develop suddenly in my feed container if a few drops of rain or snow got into the container. It looks blue green, and can clump. It may be on the bottom of the container, so may not be noticed until near the bottom. Hopefully, you will figure out what was wrong. Necropsies are done at different labs in Canada. I would check water, and make sure there are no poisonous plants, or strange people who might harm them with poison.

 

[MBM]

I checked their feed and their water, their feed is all dry, no visible mold anywhere. They get clean water everyday. I was wondering if anyone knows how to check if there is something wrong with the feed? I'm wondering if the feed is bad in some way. Cause we bought a new barrel of feed 1 week before, and shortly after that they started dying right and left. I did check it, but it looks and smells normal to me. The ducks are starting to die off as well now, I noticed 2 were acting sick yesterday, and they eat the same thing the chickens are. I will buy a new bag of feed from a different place today and see if that makes a difference, I was just wondering if the feed could be an issue even if it looks and smells like normal