Flock members dying off slowly, fluffy stumbling then dead.

[MissionOhana]

I have raised chickens for years now. Literally hundreds of chicks and I feel like I’ve come across my fair share of issues. But all of them I raised were back in Hawaii. I am now in the very Northern edge of Georgia going into Tennessee. And I have lost 10 chickens out of my flock of 22 slowly. It is a mixed flock of rare breed (an assortment from Murray mcmurray) they are now 20 weeks old. They all seem fine then one day I’ll notice one is looking a little ragged feathered, next day it’ll be fluffed up. Some have been a little stumbly while they go down hill over the course of a couple days and then it’ll die. One at a time over the course of the past couple months. Only one day we had a few die at once. Every other instance has been one at a time. I’m stumped. I’ve treated for coccidiosis a couple times spread apart. I’ve done vitamin b in the water. I haven’t seen any dark or bloody stools. They have an enclosed area of the coop they can hide from weather, get time free ranging but also have an attached run. Access to water outside of the sleeping area, which has a roost, door we close when it gets too cold and pine shavings. We are just stumped But I’m wondering if it’s mareks? Or something like this. I should mention when they transitioned outside at 7 weeks, I thought they had gotten a case of fowl pox cause they all had the black spots but that’s seemed fairly mild and no one has shown any external signs of illness since that cleared. Could that have been a first sign of mareks? Thank you for any advice/guidance. Thinking of driving the 100 miles to get of necropsy done so I can stop losing all these chickens

 

[fin-dachickmasta]

I would do that! Might be mites and/or mareks.

 

[Chickenlover0810]

I have raised chickens for years now. Literally hundreds of chicks and I feel like I’ve come across my fair share of issues. But all of them I raised were back in Hawaii. I am now in the very Northern edge of Georgia going into Tennessee. And I have lost 10 chickens out of my flock of 22 slowly. It is a mixed flock of rare breed (an assortment from Murray mcmurray) they are now 20 weeks old. They all seem fine then one day I’ll notice one is looking a little ragged feathered, next day it’ll be fluffed up. Some have been a little stumbly while they go down hill over the course of a couple days and then it’ll die. One at a time over the course of the past couple months. Only one day we had a few die at once. Every other instance has been one at a time. I’m stumped. I’ve treated for coccidiosis a couple times spread apart. I’ve done vitamin b in the water. I haven’t seen any dark or bloody stools. They have an enclosed area of the coop they can hide from weather, get time free ranging but also have an attached run. Access to water outside of the sleeping area, which has a roost, door we close when it gets too cold and pine shavings. We are just stumped But I’m wondering if it’s mareks? Or something like this. I should mention when they transitioned outside at 7 weeks, I thought they had gotten a case of fowl pox cause they all had the black spots but that’s seemed fairly mild and no one has shown any external signs of illness since that cleared. Could that have been a first sign of mareks? Thank you for any advice/guidance. Thinking of driving the 100 miles to get of necropsy done so I can stop losing all these chickens

We have this problem with our flock. We did a necropsy and it showed up to be mareks I would highly recommend doing a necropsy so then you can figure out what to do next. best of luck!

 

[fin-dachickmasta]

ohhhh nooooo so sad ☹

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. I would get a necropsy. Call your state vet and ask details, and see if they will do one or two for the same price. Keep bodies cold, not frozen, and take them as soon as possible on M-F. Check your feed for any funny odor or color, or mold. What are they fed? It is hard to know exactly what is killing them. It could be a resistant form of coccidiosis, Mareks, or something else. A vet can check droppings for coccidiosis and worms with a fecal float.

 

[Eggcessive]

We have this problem with our flock. We did a necropsy and it showed up to be mareks I would highly recommend doing a necropsy so then you can figure out what to do next. best of luck!

Did you get a final necropsy report that says Mareks? I read on your thread where your chicken had a kidney tumor, coccidiosis, and worms. But I didn’t see where you got the final necropsy report.

 

[Banana01]

I have raised chickens for years now. Literally hundreds of chicks and I feel like I’ve come across my fair share of issues. But all of them I raised were back in Hawaii. I am now in the very Northern edge of Georgia going into Tennessee. And I have lost 10 chickens out of my flock of 22 slowly. It is a mixed flock of rare breed (an assortment from Murray mcmurray) they are now 20 weeks old. They all seem fine then one day I’ll notice one is looking a little ragged feathered, next day it’ll be fluffed up. Some have been a little stumbly while they go down hill over the course of a couple days and then it’ll die. One at a time over the course of the past couple months. Only one day we had a few die at once. Every other instance has been one at a time. I’m stumped. I’ve treated for coccidiosis a couple times spread apart. I’ve done vitamin b in the water. I haven’t seen any dark or bloody stools. They have an enclosed area of the coop they can hide from weather, get time free ranging but also have an attached run. Access to water outside of the sleeping area, which has a roost, door we close when it gets too cold and pine shavings. We are just stumped But I’m wondering if it’s mareks? Or something like this. I should mention when they transitioned outside at 7 weeks, I thought they had gotten a case of fowl pox cause they all had the black spots but that’s seemed fairly mild and no one has shown any external signs of illness since that cleared. Could that have been a first sign of mareks? Thank you for any advice/guidance. Thinking of driving the 100 miles to get of necropsy done so I can stop losing all these chickens

Better to test the living by sending the blood to a mareks testing lab. It cost $20 for a blood test. Since you have 10 left, maybe pick two at random, and follow the instructions to send their blood to a lab for testing. Necropsy is useless because they dont do any legitimate testing, and just fill out templates.

 

[MissionOhana]

Thanks everyone for the replies! We keep the feed indoors where we have temp control so mold isn’t an issue on that end and we go through it pretty quick. Just extremely frustrating especially because if I’m right there’s nothing we can do . I’m going to look into all the above suggestions and pray

 

[Eggcessive]

This is a list of state vets, and I would recommend calling them to discuss how to get a necropsy, how to preserve the body and send it:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

 

[oellian]

Did you get a final necropsy report that says Mareks? I read on your thread where your chicken had a kidney tumor, coccidiosis, and worms. But I didn’t see where you got the final necropsy report.

Where did you find that thread about the tumor, etc.? I have a similar-sounding problem, but with only one bird out of 12 so far. The rest seem fine. Nonetheless, I'd like to understand the possible implications.