Help! 2 Deaths in My Much-Loved Flock With A 3rd Now Sick.

[Jillio]

2 nights ago, hubby locked up our birds and came to me saying a chicken had died. She was a lovely blue Marans named Bedelia. No warning signs or symptoms I had seen beforehand. Today, went out to gather eggs this morning and Rosemary had died sitting in her nesting box. She was a beautiful Easter egger who laid our largest blue egg out of all the blue egg layers. This afternoon went back out and my rooster who is most flighty out of all my roosters was laying in the dirt. I found this strange, so I went to approach him. He did not hardly move. He is now, lethargic, gently trembling, with pupils dilated. He is currently standing on my bed, where I am sitting, and his eyes are closed. He’s having a hard time walking and seems to have no energy/lethargic. I did have him drink some sips of water. When he pooped, it was completely liquid and completely yellow; I will enclose a picture. Help if you can! We have about 100 birds right now and I need to get on top of this quickly. I love my birds.

 

[nuthatched]

Sorry to hear about your loss.
What's their diet?

 

[Jillio]

Sorry to hear about your loss.
What's their diet?

Thanks so much. We formulate our own feed. It is essentially whole oat groats, whole peas, BOSS, sorghum, nutritional yeast, alfalfa or kelp, and some trace minerals added in. We either soak or ferment before feeding.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Do you have either of the dead chickens’ bodies, to send one in to the state vet for a necropsy? Could there be a toxin on the grass, insecticide, weed killer, or other poison? How does the feed smell and look? Moldy feed can be deadly. If you can hold off feeding the fermented feed and get a fresh bag of chicken feed, I would in caution. Dehydration and heat stroke could be another issue. Get them drinking fluids with electrolytes. Activated charcoal is sometimes used for poisoning. The yellow in the dropping is bile possibly from something affecting the liver. Here is a list of state vets to contact in the morning about a necropsy:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

 

[IvyBeans]

Thanks so much. We formulate our own feed. It is essentially whole oat groats, whole peas, BOSS, sorghum, nutritional yeast, alfalfa or kelp, and some trace minerals added in. We either soak or ferment before feeding.

I’d get some commercial feed just until you figure out what’s wrong. I’m not blaming you at all, but if my flock was dying off, I’d switch feed no matter what until I got to the bottom of it.

I’d also see if a vet would take a poop sample and look for parasites. I’d also send one of the bodies to a lab for a necropsy.

 

[Jillio]

Sorry for your loss. Do you have either of the dead chickens’ bodies, to send one in to the state vet for a necropsy? Could there be a toxin on the grass, insecticide, weed killer, or other poison? How does the feed smell and look? Moldy feed can be deadly. Dehydration and heat stroke could be another issue. The yellow in the dropping is bile possibly from something affecting the liver.

I live in Texas and I’ve looked into getting a necropsy before. It is quite expensive here. I will go out and smell the feed soon so I can rule that out. We are in all organic farm and we do not use any pesticides or anything of the kind on our grass or weeds. I would think heat stroke could be a factor except it’s been in the 80s and this is nothing compared to how hot it will get in a month or two!

 

[Jillio]

I’d get some commercial feed just until you figure out what’s wrong. I’m not blaming you at all, but if my flock was dying off, I’d switch feed no matter what until I got to the bottom of it.

I’d also see if a vet would take a poop sample and look for parasites. I’d also send one of the bodies to a lab for a necropsy.

Thank you so much. We had a weird issue, some months back where several of our chickens died. We took in poop samples for each sick chicken and they all came back clear each time. They all died 6-8 weeks apart, and not all in the exact same timeframe. Maybe I should try again.

 

[IvyBeans]

Thank you so much. We had a weird issue, some months back where several of our chickens died. We took in poop samples for each sick chicken and they all came back clear each time. They all died 6-8 weeks apart, and not all in the exact same timeframe. Maybe I should try again.

Feed doesn’t have to smell or look off to have something off about It. It happens to commercial feed makers too. Everything looks fine, but something snuck in.

 

[Eggcessive]

I do think that TX is more expensive on necropsies at their 4 lab locations, but with this many deaths so close together, something is wrong. Is there any spillage of the fermented feed that could have molded, or could the fermented feed be bad? I hope that you can find the reason for the deaths, and don’t lose any more.

 

[BastyPutt]

I do think that TX is more expensive on necropsies at their 4 lab locations, but with this many deaths so close together, something is wrong.

I agree here. Something really serious is going on. We have around 100 birds as well and I can relate to the stress you are probably experiencing. Not only contemplating the work it takes and has taken to maintain or grow a flock like this, but also the emotional attachment that comes with each bird.

A necropsy won't always solve the problem, as with something like Mareks, but it will certainly bring peace of mind.