Found Chicken Dead Today?!

[rebrascora]

Chickens are extremely tough. The neck particularly so. When I am processing them I find it incredibly difficult to remove the neck from the carcass even using a really sharp knife or secateurs. So I am very doubtful they would have broken necks. My guess would be wry neck possibly from Marek's Disease, triggered by stress from over crowding, but birds usually thrash about and contort as they are dying, so it may just be that causing them to end up with heads twisted.

Some state facilities charge for necropsies, others provide a free service. The carcass needs to be refrigerated on the day of death and sent off in appropriate packaging. There is a thread here on BYC which tells you how to do it. I will see if I can find it.

 

[MisterZack]

Chickens are extremely tough. The neck particularly so. When I am processing them I find it incredibly difficult to remove the neck from the carcass even using a really sharp knife or secateurs. So I am very doubtful they would have broken necks. My guess would be wry neck possibly from Marek's Disease, triggered by stress from over crowding, but birds usually thrash about and contort as they are dying, so it may just be that causing them to end up with heads twisted.

Some state facilities charge for necropsies, others provide a free service. The carcass needs to be refrigerated on the day of death and sent off in appropriate packaging. There is a thread here on BYC which tells you how to do it. I will see if I can find it.

Well i figured out whats been killing my birds.... They have chickens mites and after some research and my sister in-law i found that they can kill chickens which would explain no marks and everything.

 

[MisterZack]

so after discovering it was chicken mites killing my chickens i went and bought some stuff to sprinkle on them and spray for the coop i trimmed their flying feathers and let them out of the pin they didnt like that part and kept going back in lol but now they are happy and they found a dusting spot as well.

I bought this to dust them https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/y-tex-gardstar-garden-poultry-dust-shaker-can-2-lb

and https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/gordons-permethrin-10-livestock-premise-spray-8-fl-oz this to spray their coop i diluted it with water as it said and have kept them out of the coop until it drys i also bought some sand for them to self dust

and https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/dumor-poultry-layer-16-crumble this for them to eat

 

[JaeG]

Mites are such a pain! Make sure you treat again in 7 days, and maybe again a week later to make sure you break the cycle and get any stragglers.

 

[MisterZack]

Mites are such a pain! Make sure you treat again in 7 days, and maybe again a week later to make sure you break the cycle and get any stragglers.

i bought the right stuff then for feed and mite control?

 

[Lochloosachicks]

Do you have a sand box for them? I've heard it can help prevent mites. You can get a fairly small one. It wouldn't fit in your coop, but if you let them free range for a few hours a day and have one available they would love dusting themselves in it. It's like a bath for them. A few hours out of the coop might help keep them healthier too. I have some golden comets and RIR's too!

 

[MisterZack]

Do you have a sand box for them? I've heard it can help prevent mites. You can get a fairly small one. It wouldn't fit in your coop, but if you let them free range for a few hours a day and have one available they would love dusting themselves in it. It's like a bath for them. A few hours out of the coop might help keep them healthier too. I have some golden comets and RIR's too!

i bought a metal 3 gallon circle pan and poured sand in it and they found a place to dust bath when they are out of their coop as well.

This is what i have the sand in
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/behrens-utility-pan-3-gal-capacity

 

[JaeG]

i bought the right stuff then for feed and mite control?

Yes, the permethrin spray is what you need for the coop. If it's red mites they are less likely to stay on the chickens, prefering to hide out in the dark crevices of the coop during the day. But dusting the birds will make any stragglers jump ship, just don't dust their heads as it will irritate their eyes and nose (yours too so be careful with it). Run your hand along the underside of the roosting bar/s and you'll find bugs there. Horrible things! It took me 6 weeks to get rid of them when I had an outbreak as in New Zealand you can't get permethrin spray.

You can offer garlic free choice for the chickens to eat (I was amazed how much mine loved it when I offered it) as it will build up in their flesh and make them less tasty to mites who don't like the sulphur in it. Don't mix it into their food or water - let them 'self medicate' as otherwise you can overdose and end up with garlicky tasting eggs. Also Elemental Sulphur, sometimes called Flowers of Sulphur, is another product to use in dust bathing areas, and also sprinkled round inside the coop. It's great for deterring and killing mites, spiders etc.

Here's a thread all about it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sulfur-powder-against-lice-mites.613628/

 

[MisterZack]

Yes, the permethrin spray is what you need for the coop. If it's red mites they are less likely to stay on the chickens, prefering to hide out in the dark crevices of the coop during the day. But dusting the birds will make any stragglers jump ship, just don't dust their heads as it will irritate their eyes and nose (yours too so be careful with it). Run your hand along the underside of the roosting bar/s and you'll find bugs there. Horrible things! It took me 6 weeks to get rid of them when I had an outbreak as in New Zealand you can't get permethrin spray.

You can offer garlic free choice for the chickens to eat (I was amazed how much mine loved it when I offered it) as it will build up in their flesh and make them less tasty to mites who don't like the sulphur in it. Don't mix it into their food or water - let them 'self medicate' as otherwise you can overdose and end up with garlicky tasting eggs. Also Elemental Sulphur, sometimes called Flowers of Sulphur, is another product to use in dust bathing areas, and also sprinkled round inside the coop. It's great for deterring and killing mites, spiders etc.

Here's a thread all about it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sulfur-powder-against-lice-mites.613628/

I sprayed the hell out of everything in the coop and let it dry well my brother did i made him do the spraying and the dusting with the stuff one got it on her face and head but i think she will be fine and tractor supply is where i bought both my items maybe you can order there if you ever need again have it shipped there?

i also bought some ground up oyster shells to kill bed bugs and ants and other things its safe for pets and other animals and cuts the bugs legs when they walk into it so i sprinkled it in their coop as well and moved the coop changed out the straw out of everything so i think they will be doing just fine now.

 

[rebrascora]

I can almost guarantee mites are not killing your birds. Mites live in the coop and crawl onto the chickens at night to suck their blood. Blood loss is small even with a large infestation and whilst it will make a chicken weak and prone to other illnesses, they will not just die suddenly from blood loss overnight. You would see signs of the chickens becoming weak and looking sick for several days before they die. Whilst it is important to keep on top of problems like mites and lice, particularly when your coop is overcrowded, I'm afraid you still need to address the overcrowding issue, before nature does it for you....as she seems to be doing!
You will also need to retreat the coop for mites in 7-10 days to kill the larvae that will hatch out from unaffected eggs, during that time.

The product you are talking about is not ground oyster shell but Diatomaceous Earth (DE for short) Oyster shell is calcium and used to improve egg shell quality, DE is silica from the fossils of microscopic creatures that died millions of years ago. You are pretty much correct about how it works though. Many people feel that DE is not nearly as beneficial as it is marketed to be (some even use the phrase totally useless) and has health risks from inhalation both by humans and chickens. I have had some success with it, but you have to be prepared to use it in conjunction with other products.