Chickens keep dying 😭

[Look at all them chickens]

Did I miss that somewhere?

I thought they were all at different times:


I did see that a specific hen was alive at one point, and dead an hour later, with the death recorded on a camera, but I thought that was the only mention of a one-hour time.

They were all at different times. We didn’t go back to all the footage on every one of them. When it first happened we thought she was just ready to go.. the time the second one died the video from the first was copied over. Third one not in camera view.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Ahhhh. Ok I get it. I’m much less dumbfounded now.

 

[BBQ2U]

They get layer feed, scratch, any bugs they can find and they get scraps from the table. But they don’t get anything they are not allowed to eat. I am very careful what they get and google anything I am unsure about. They were all fat little ladies that were fine the day before. And the are so spaced out. One today and one last week. Then the other one was 3 weeks prior. The first one two months ago. I am so confused.

Our state has an animal pathologist. We almost agreed to bring our "egg bound" hen in but she walked me through all the symptoms of our girl and it was 99% egg bound. Had we come to a different conclusion, I could have taken our girl in for her to do an autopsy to find out what was going on. Our state is still battling Avian flu which was of concern to me. So may you could contact your states animal pathologist. We live in a Commonwealth so this service was free.

 

[PrettyChicky25]

If a bird infected with the avian flu flew above your coop and pooped, and your birds ate it, maybe they got it too. Maybe have them tested?

 

[Zeggy]

I lost two recently - mysteriously - until i watched them for a while and came to the conclusion they were infested with gapeworm. I have treated the remaining chickens twice now and they seem to be doing fine so far...

 

[Zeggy]

I have had my flock for almost 4 years. They have always been healthy and we have only lost two in 4 years. One to a male duck that attacked her and the other was trapped behind a food bin. In the past two months I have had 4 just drop dead!! Two RI reds and two black ones (sorry they were a mixed bunch when we got them at a day old and I never did figure out what they all really are). They literally are fine and running around the night before and I find them dead in the coop.
There has been no change to their routine, same food, clean water, clean coop and run. They free range but it is in a contained extended run. When I find them they have full crops so I know they were eating. No bloated belly no sour crops.. nothing!! I am lost on what to do!! Help please! Any ideas? Is this happening to anyone else? I live in Kentucky and it is 50s to 60’s outside.

I lost two recently - mysteriously - until i watched them for a while and came to the conclusion they were infested with gapeworm. I have treated the remaining chickens twice now and they seem to be doing fine so far...

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[Clucktown]

Not the person you asked to, but I have a worm issue in my backyard and I regularly take my chickens to the vet, and here's what he said to me about this:

Most chickens have worms, especially if they free range as they can easily eat the worm's eggs; this is usually not a big problem as worms are parasites and, as such, they do not intend to kill their host. Many chickens worms actually live in their intestines and feed themselves from what the chickens eats.

The problem is that sometimes chickens can have a very high amount of worms, and they develop symptoms that some chicken owners can easily overlook, such as weight loss or mild diarrheas. By the time that we notice severe weight loss, frequent or severe diarrheas, or blood in the poop, etc., the chicken has a high infestation of worms, which may have produced damage in their intestines and poor absorption of nutrients - and sometimes this is chronic.

So, will it hurt if you don't deworm them? It really depends. If your chickens have worms but in a moderate amount, and the worm population never increases, perhaps no, it won't hurt them. But as the vet says, you don't want to wait for the symptoms to appear, you want to prevent the worms from settling on your chickens' intestines, or at least control their population. The vet prescribes meds in different dosages to prevent worms or to eliminate them if the chickens already have them.

What meds? It depends on the type of worm. Sometimes, you can identify the worm in the chicken's feces; sometimes, you can guess another type of parasites due to the symptoms (for example, if you see blood in the feces, you can suspect coccidiosis). Sometimes, you need to send a poop sample to a lab to be 100% certain.

Now, there are "OTC" medications that you can try on your own, and they're mostly safe and more effective than natural remedies, but as far as I know, none of them can cover all kinds of worms. Anyway, I never tried those so I can't recommend anything in particular, wait for other people's responses.

Valbazen kills all. .25 ml for bantams, .5 ml for full size. 2 doses, 10 days apart.

 

[mmmeyer]

I have had my flock for almost 4 years. They have always been healthy and we have only lost two in 4 years. One to a male duck that attacked her and the other was trapped behind a food bin. In the past two months I have had 4 just drop dead!! Two RI reds and two black ones (sorry they were a mixed bunch when we got them at a day old and I never did figure out what they all really are). They literally are fine and running around the night before and I find them dead in the coop.
There has been no change to their routine, same food, clean water, clean coop and run. They free range but it is in a contained extended run. When I find them they have full crops so I know they were eating. No bloated belly no sour crops.. nothing!! I am lost on what to do!! Help please! Any ideas? Is this happening to anyone else? I live in Kentucky and it is 50s to 60’s outside.

Double check feed. Lost two hens. New bag of feed was moldy. To this day everytime I refill feeders I smell the feed