dying Barred Rocks

[FordFamilyFarm]

I have some Barred Rocks,Rhode Island Reds,Dark Cornish and Buff Orpingtons all hatched out together. I have had them all together for about 5 weeks now. They all got their feathers and I took them out of the brooder and put them in the coop. Still had access to light for warmth at night.I let them outside during the day to explore and put them back in at night. Yesterday I found one dead and another looking bad.removed him and later died. Today five more died. All my other breeds are just fine. Could this be a genetic problem or can one breed get sick and not another? Thanks for any input or experience shared.

Tim

 

[MoodyChicken]

Probably cocci. 'Tis the season for cocci, and chicks and dirt = outbreak. Are you feeding medicated feed? Is this the first time they've been on the soil? Any other symptoms?

 

[speckledhen]

They tend to roam with like kind, meaning the BRs manytimes will stay around the BRs. Maybe they got into something poisonous or shared a poisoned mouse or could be anything. BRs are pretty tough, generally. What Moody Chicken said about cocci could be the answer. Some breeds or strains of breeds are resistant to cocci. Maybe you have strain of BRs who are susceptible to cocci.

 

[Renee]

If it's not cocci, it might be something they are, like speckledhen said. I had a chicken get into the compost pile and almost die of botulism poisoning.

 

[FordFamilyFarm]

Thanks for the inputs. I feed them medicated start and grow. I gave the last two BR some med. the feed store had for poultry with colds. They seem to still be kicking.Been a few days and seem ok. Hope thats the only loss of this bunch.