⠀ Help my chickens are dying

[casportpony]

Back when I started with chickens I bought a huge bag of DE and put it in their coop and dust bathing areas, but they still got lice, so then I covered them in the DE and it did nothing to the lice. IMO, better to use a poultry dust or 5% Sevin Powder.

Also have a friend that put lice in a jar of DE and it didn't kill them.

-Kathy

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would never feed DE to chickens. It will do nothing.
If one has birds dying in short order, the only course of action that is appropriate is to have lab work done to find out what they are dealing with so they can take appropriate action. Any other approach will kill more chickens.
There are hundreds of things that can kill chickens quickly. It isn't time to guess. But taking a guess, paratyphoid will cause a purplish comb but usually doesn't kill chickens quickly. Get some lab work so you know what to do.
All states have a poultry lab that can do the necropsy. Some are free. Take a bird that is exhibiting symptoms and get er done.

 

[casportpony]

List of labs:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf

State vets:
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

-Kathy