Emergency! Chickens keep dieing!

[JustTryingToHellMyParents]

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) Silkies, they are like 3 or 4 months old and im unsure on weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Well for the past 2 they were fine one day then dead the next morning, the other one is on its death bed: not drinking, eating only when food is infront of it, unable to stand. And finally our silkie roo is just fine but the other 2 hens have died and the final hen is on her death bef it seems
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?: for the two that randomly died, none. For the one thats dieing, a few days
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? Nope, our 3 non silkies have been fine and theyre right next to the silkies, and the silkie roo has also been fine
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. Not that I can tell
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. No clue, i know nothing about chickens, this was my parents decision.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Chicken feed, idk what it is but it smells like apples and then just normal tap water
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Disposing of bodies, unsure of what to do for the dieing one
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?: id like to stabilize till we can get it to a vet as my parents are pretty decently in debt but spend every penny they earn (mostly on uneeded things)
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use: will show in attached picture

 

[Goosebaby]

Thank you for answering as many questions as you could in advance, it’s a lot of help when people do.

There’s two important questions that may help us if you can answer them though.
what feed specifically are they eating, what brand name does it say on the bag and what type does it say it is? For example does it say it’s for layers, does it say it’s Start, grower, or raiser, is it medicated or non medicated? These details can help a lot.

Is the wood shavings pine or cedar? Cedar oils can be lethal.

 

[JustTryingToHellMyParents]

Thank you for answering as many questions as you could in advance, it’s a lot of help when people do.

There’s two important questions that may help us if you can answer them though.
what feed specifically are they eating, what brand name does it say on the bag and what type does it say it is? For example does it say it’s for layers, does it say it’s Start, grower, or raiser, is it medicated or non medicated? These details can help a lot.

Is the wood shavings pine or cedar? Cedar oils can be lethal.

So its aspen bedding and the feed is naturewise chick starter grower

 

[Goosebaby]

So its aspen bedding and the feed is naturewise chick starter grower

Both of those are fine, so unless you’ve noticed mold in the feed it probably isn’t the cause.

Where did you get the chicks? We’re they from a feed store, ordered from a hatchery, or were they obtained from a private breeder?

 

[JustTryingToHellMyParents]

Both of those are fine, so unless you’ve noticed mold in the feed it probably isn’t the cause.

Where did you get the chicks? We’re they from a feed store, ordered from a hatchery, or were they obtained from a private breeder?

Got them from Murdocks during their chick days event

 

[AVR0VULCAN]

Hope your chicks don't die anymore

 

[Goosebaby]

There’s the possibility they could have some sort of infectious disease which they could have picked up at any point between now and when you got them or picked up from the store or breeder.
large hatcheries usually vaccinate chicks or the parent stock for the more economically damaging diseases out there, feed stores aren’t always transparent about where they obtain chicks from and individual stores can source from different breeders so you would have to contact that store you got them from and ask for information on who their breeders are and if they vaccinate.

If anyone witnessed any of the deaths of the chicks how they died might give us some clues if you’re comfortable describing it. Did they sort of just pass in their sleep or did they suddenly started convulsing or hacking it could either be choking, a seizure, or heart failure.

 

[Goosebaby]

@Eggcessive Might have better answers than I do.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Silkies, they are like 3 or 4 months old

Please tell us what temperature the brooder is.

Are they 3-4 months old?
If you are still providing heat at that age, then likely they are too hot.

 

[JustTryingToHellMyParents]

There’s the possibility they could have some sort of infectious disease which they could have picked up at any point between now and when you got them or picked up from the store or breeder.
large hatcheries usually vaccinate chicks or the parent stock for the more economically damaging diseases out there, feed stores aren’t always transparent about where they obtain chicks from and individual stores can source from different breeders so you would have to contact that store you got them from and ask for information on who their breeders are and if they vaccinate.

If anyone witnessed any of the deaths of the chicks how they died might give us some clues if you’re comfortable describing it. Did they sort of just pass in their sleep or did they suddenly started convulsing or hacking it could either be choking, a seizure, or heart failure.

One of them died in my hands, literally just laid down and died