Chickens suddenly lethargic and dying

[Natrev]

Hi, new to the forum but been raising chickens from day old chicks for about 8 years. We had 11 chickens until yesterday, we are now down to 4 .
Chickens sleep locked in a coop, during the day explore a rather large enclosed area. Yesterday my poor son went out to let the girls out of the smaller coop and found one dead and seemingly attacked out of the coop, another dead inside but appeared unharmed. It was assumed a predator like a fox or fisher cat got in and a corner of the larger fencing did seem slightly lifted. However most of the other girls appeared quiet and somewhat lethargic. We thought they were spooked. Chickens cleaned up but a third was soon found dead as well.
We fixed the fence, cleaned up the bedding and locked everyone up. Several of them had blank expressions on their faces with eyes kinda rolling a bit, the combs appeared kinda distorted (again I figured maybe they were in a scuffle with a predator and were stressed). This morning three more were dead. The remainder appeared somewhat perky throughout the day. I bleached their coop and water bowl thoroughly now thinking maybe we were wrong about the predator. Maybe it was an infection and the original chicken was attacked by the others after she died first. Now as we put them away again, another died. My family is devastated, the kids can’t stop crying and I can’t stop these girls from dying. We have seen some loose stools here and there but nothing looks a ton unusual. No one is sneezing. Just lethargic. Any ideas how to save the remaining four?
We are in MA if that makes a difference. Thanks.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @Natrev Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry for your loss.
How old are the chickens that died?
Any photos of the poop or what the remaining ones look like?
Just for clarification, you have mainly found them dead in the coop?

Has anything changed...new bedding, ventilation, new chickens in the last couple of weeks, use of a new heat lamp, new bag of feed or possibly old/moldy feed mistakenly given, do they have access to a compost pile, something dead, toxins like spilled oil/pesticides/rat poison, etc.?

 

[Gray Farms]

Sounds like Coccidiosis. They need treated ASAP.

 

[ChickNanny13]

First thing came to mind was moldy feed or they got into something they shouldn't. Do you all have any critters that are poisonous or sting with venom? Where are you located? Check the coop area thoroughly, check the body over really well also.

Here we got "Litte Fire Ants" (LFA), they are so tiny, you'll feel the sting before you see them and the stinging don't stop. They've blinded pets and killed.

Sorry to hear of your losses, the children must really be devastated

 

[Natrev]

Thanks all. I will look for some poop today from the remaining girls. Haven’t gone out yet this am to see if there are more casualties.
That’s just it, nothing has changed. Same living environment. Same food. Only thing that spills over are beans from an adjacent garden to which they’ve always helped themselves. The ones which died ranged from 15 months (last night the last of “the babies” died) to several years. Ironically our very original chickens (one of them) from 8 years ago keeps on going.

Would something like fire ants remain on the bodies? Because my husband and oldest son have been handling their bodies and no one mentioned anything biting or weird. Only chicken that didn’t look “normal” was the half eaten one that we thought was attacked by a predator but now think maybe died and attacked by the flock who got sick. It’s just a guess though.

I will look for Corid. How would they have gotten coccidiosis?

Yeah the kids are devastated. Just as we bury a few and take a breather, another dies.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. You have a state vet or poultry lab where you could send one or two bodies, that have been keep cool, to get a necropsy and look for a cause of death. Here is a link where to contact yours:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

You can open the abdomens to look for coccidiosis signs in the bodies of a few chickens. Here is a link of what to look for:
https://thepoultrysite.com/publications/diseases-of-poultry/206/coccidiosis

Usually if there is a predator, their would be feathers and some injuries seen. The one chicken might have been attacked and the others may have been stressed out. Corid is a harmless thing to try—around $18-23, so I would go ahead and start some in the water@2 tsp per gallon of the liquid, or 1.5 tsp of the powder for 5 days as the only water source. Go out and spend some time with the chickens, look into and smell your feed for an off odor or blue/green mold that can appear overnight in warm humid weather. Look for spilled feed on the ground that has molded. Check for toxins, such as insecticides, weed killers, rat poison or anything else that might have poisoned them.

 

[Natrev]

Thanks for the links. I will see if I can get the Corid ASAP. They are dying off so fast I just want to save them. We don’t use poisons or pesticides or anything so there’s nothing for them to get into. We checked over the feed and water yesterday and cleaned everything so if there was something there it should be gone.
My husband just checked on them and said no one else died over night thankfully. Down to the four now.

 

[Eggcessive]

Look for any symptoms they are showing such as imbalance or weakness in the legs, twisted necks, or anything unusual that could be mold or other poisoning. Oil or hydraulic spills from equipment could also be a source. Coccidiosis signs are runny poops with mucus or blood, standing hunched or puffed up, not eating, lethargy, and weakness. A dead animal or compost bed can also be a source of toxin from botulism.

 

[so lucky]

You said the only thing that spills over from the neighbor's garden is beans. Not dried up "hully" beans? Green beans?

 

[Natrev]

It’s my garden that’s adjacent and green beans spill over. They have those all the time for snacks.

No dead animal other than the original damaged one we saw before the rest started dying. That’s what made me think maybe they pecked on a dead bird and got sick.

Didn’t have my phone on me just now when I went out but I saw several patches of mucousy, stringy stool.
Also one of the birds had a bulge on her chest. I’m guessing it’s the crop, it was boggy when I picked her up but I didn’t notice anything else. I have never seen it bulge that much in the past and my astute daughter pointed it out as well.