dead birds

[Kesha]

we have found 2 dead birds in the last 2 days.they are 12 weeks old and they had shots before they were mailed from mcmurry's any ideals

 

[PunkinPeep]

can you share more information? details? were there any signs?

bump

 

[NotTheMomma]

Have they been wormed recently?

How's their poop? Any blood in poop?

Are they eating and drinking ok?

Are they on soil?

What bedding? Straw, pine shavings, cedar, etc...

Are they free ranging? Have access to a run?

Any visible signs of injury?

Any runny discharge from beaks, eyes, or ears?

Sorry for your recent losses.

When several are dying without a known reason, I would suggest getting a necropsy done so you can protect the rest of your flock.

 

[Kesha]

the lady at tractor supply said not to deworm them if the eggs were for human consumptio.poop is very watery.eating and drinking like champs.beding is pine shavings but I just put some straw in thier boxes because they like to roost in them and a little has feel on the floor.the run is soil.it has rained for eight days straight.we just started to let them free range 5 days ago they don't go more than 50 feet from the coop.no signs of injury anywhere.please help.tractor supply gave me duramycin 10 and I don't know why or if we should use it. Thankyou for your response

 

[Cetawin]

The lady at TSC is a dingbat. When you use most wormers, you have a "egg withdrawal" period. Meaning while the eggs are tossed for 10 - 14 days then they are wormed again and the eggs tossed for 10 - 14 days. Then they are fine to eat and some people worm annually others do is bi-annually and others do not worm at all.

The fact they handed you a package of antibiotics and not a wormer after telling you to deworm them and without having a clue what the problem is ... well further proof they are dingbats. Here is a link to the detail sheet on it:

http://www.durvet.com/prods/DURAMYCIN_119/DetailSheet.html

First thing is to find out what is wrong before you try to correct it.

How is their poo other than watery...is it dark, clear, yellow or bloody ?

Are the growing normally or have they been losing weight.

Anyone wobbly or looking overly tired before they died?

Any discharge from nose or eyes?

Coughing, gasping, sneezing?

The more information you can give the better we can help or offer suggestions.

 

[speckledhen]

You really need to give more information..and I agree with Cetawin. Never, ever rely on TSC to help you with chickens. They are the worst for giving out bad information. Worms can kill your birds if they are not treated.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Duramycin is worthless especially when you don't know what the problem is. There are several antibiotics out there but each one is for something different. I too suggest a necropsy to find out what you are dealing with here. I recently lost a 4 yr old hen myself with virtually no symptoms to go on and because of that i didn't treat her with anything. 2 days and she was gone

Necropsy costs vary from state to state and for me it wasn't in the cards because of the price...$74 for the necropsy and another $10 for the "disposal fee" If i would have had the money to get it done i certainly would have just for piece of mind that the rest of the flock would be ok.


ETA: I worm my flock twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. All i do is throw the eggs out for 2 weeks after I worm them. After that you can eat them.

 

[Kesha]

Their poo is watery (only sometimes) but like a clear watery. No blood. They are not eating any less

They are growing as far as we can tell.

No runny nose or breathing funny, no yucky eyes. No damage to their bodies. They are not tired. When we go outside they run around waiting for us to throw some food out.

One died one day in the coop and one died the next day in the run.

My husband has already burried them because it was sat that we found the 2nd one (actually our daughter found it).

We haven't changed their food. They have been let out of the run for the last 5-6 days. We are in VA and it has rained for like 8 days straight until sat.

Could one of these have done it? Their run is wet. We put some hay in the nesting boxes because they gather in them and poo like its a litter box. How ofter do you clean the coop? They poo on EVERYTHING in there.

I think we should worm them too. They are not even going to start to lay eggs for another 7 weeks or so. They are exactly 13 weeks old today.

The thing is- we live in Northern VA. There really are no farms here. We have almost 4 acres but everyone looks at us crazy when we say we have chickens. We are brand new to this and have relied on you guys to help us care for our chickens the right way. We don't know what we are doing and there is no one around here who does either.

Should we keep them in the run? It's very wet because of the rain.

If another one dies I will have the necropsy done. The place is like 2 1/2 hours away. If one dies during this week what do I do? Put it in a bag and a cooler and take it to them? Do I need to put it on ice?
I called our regular vet sat and she said to keep it in the fridge till mon and take it out there. I couldn't put it in the fridge. Thats just gross.