Chickens dying

[greenbean62657]

We just lost our 3rd chicken in 4 months. The pattern has been somewhat the same. The first two were Buff Orphington's of unknown age (but probably less than 3 years old as they were good layers). They would sit on the perch and not get off unless we shooed them off. The first one we didn't know much about behaviors - but we were much more aware of watching out when the second bird died. We checked for egg bound - isolated her - but she just got very lethargic and then eventually died. (Less than 1 week). We now have (had) 8 chicks that are 11 weeks old. The one that died last night was a black sex link - she was spending more than normal time in the coop on Friday, yesterday she was very lethargic and her wings drooped down when she walked. She was dead this morning. We are at a loss.

They are all free range birds - so don't know if they are getting into something that is dangerous for them? Or what??? We are so so concerned as it is not a one time occurance and we really want to be good chicken owners.

Any response on how to diagnose what might be gonig on would be so helpful.

Also - just to note - I posted last week a thread in raising chickens about our 11 week old silver duck wing that seems to sleep a lot - she will even crawl into my husbands lap to take a nap. She eats, drinks, and forages like the rest of the brood - but just seems to sleep more than most. Now I'm worried that the same thing might be happening to her.

Anyway - thanks for any advice

 

[jerseygirl1]

Have you checked their food?

 

[greenbean62657]

Yes - fresh food, no moldy food. And the baby was getting a totally different feed than the adults.

 

[silkiechicken]

Are the sick ones getting listless? How are their droppings? Have you taken a same of their droppings in for a fecal float test?

 

[greenbean62657]

Being free range - and having a dog that follows them around (disgusting I know) - the only droppings we have to check on are in the coop at night, and nothing looks out of the ordinary. I saw a thread that should a site to look at normal/abnormal poo - and I would say that everything there looks OK.

I would definitely say that all of them were listless prior to their deaths.