Help! Chickens dying with no symptoms...down to one girl :-(

[welasharon]

Are there any pesticides used on the lawn? Sometimes chickens do just drop dead but not normally that many. Worms make them act sick for a while....not gaining weight...losing weight... but not making them drop dead like that.

 

[Bean789]

I had 4 Buff Orps, 1.5 yrs old. No history of illness. No recent changes in food or location (they lived in a chicken tractor on my property). So, about 3 weeks ago I found one of my girls dead in the nestbox. I thought she might have been egg bound. I palpated her abdomen and didn't feel anything. She was acting normally and eating/drinking normally. Two days ago I was awakened by the girls clucking loudly (my window was open) at 5:30am. I heard a loud thump and then loud flapping so my husband went to investigate. He found another chicken dead directly under the roost like she died and fell to the floor, scaring the other 2 girls. Just like before, no noticeable signs of distress or symptoms - feathers normal, no discharge from nostrils, clear eyes, normal poop, activity level normal, eating/drinking normally. And finally yesterday morning, I got up and immediately went to the tractor and found my 3rd chicken dead. I'm so sad and angry because I don't know what's wrong?! I am now down to 1 girl and she looks fine but I totally expect she will be dead soon too. She's all alone but I don't want to get more chickens until I know my girl is not contagious. What could I be dealing with when there is no symptoms??
RIP Ethyl, Gladys and Gertrude....

Did you ever discover the cause of the deaths? I just lost my little Silkie bantam, 25 weeks old, who had been laying ok. Then, out of nowhere, she was dead in the coop floor. No prior symptoms. Clear eyes, eating, drinking, perky, scrambling for her treats with the others, free ranging the day before and very alert the night before. I too thought she might be egg bound as we can't tell who is laying a couple of the eggs (several of our bantams lay white/cream eggs) but new to all of this so not sure. Upon examination of her body, nothing out of the ordinary until I got to her vent area. The surface was dark pink/reddish and slightly swollen but the area was very large for such a petite chicken and her feathers were still in tact. I felt her stomach and around the vent area for internal hardness such as an egg.

A small dog had gotten hold of her a couple of weeks prior but with only a small scratch that was treated and she had been fine ever since (injury under her wing).

 

[Country bliss]

No, I never found out what happened. I didn't see anything abnormal with the vent area and I also palpated the abdomen to feel for eggs but I felt nothing that would be considered an egg. I watched my lone girl for several weeks to see if she was going to show any signs or symptoms and she appeared well so, I removed her from the coop and scrubbed it down with coop cleaner. I have since introduced 2 Ameraucanas to her and they are getting along great and doing well. I wish I knew what happened to my other 3 girls but I'm really at a loss. I hope your loss is just isolated to your one chicken. Good luck and thanks for asking about the outcome. You live close to where my mother lives in Ridge manor (Dade City)...small world.

 

[Bean789]

Yes, small world. I get my fodder seed in Dade City, a brief 20 minute run through the FL 'country side'. Beautiful area when you get outside of town.

Glad you little girl survived and is doing well with her new coop mates.