Help my chickens are dying!!!

[M To The Maxx]

For the last 2 months we have had about 5 chickens die. 2 black jersey giant hens (about 2 months old), 1 buff polish frizzle hen (about 3 and a half months old), 1 wheaten ameraucana rooster ( about 8 months old), and 1 blue old english game rooster (about 1 year old). They all looked fine until 2 hours before they died they got very weak and they lossed their bowels. Here are some pictures of my deceased wheaten ameraucana rooster named phoenix. He was in the middle of a molt when he died. He is the last chicken we had that died. He died in my arms at 7:38 p.m. yesterday. Please tell me if you see anything wrong with him. I really need to help my chickens. We found out that our chickens have mites also but we are treating that this weekend. Can mites kill chickens? Please help me!!!

 

[Big Chicken Little]

If the chickens get infested with a lot of mites it will kill them. Get on the treatment right away and check them often.

 

[M To The Maxx]

Thanks!

 

[purpletree23]

Did you notice anything wrong with them at all? There must have been something. Mites don't cause death that quickly. Any weight loss? Acting tired etc?

 

[purpletree23]

If mites are the problem you have to treat them and the coop. You also have to up the chickens nutrition to get their strength back. Vitamins, good foods, greens and protein. A small handful of cat food per day (depending on how many chickens you have) will increase their protein.

 

[M To The Maxx]

He was acting tired and he would not move in the coop then I moved him into the rabbit cage and a couple hours later he died in my arms.

 

[Judy]

What is their feed? Do they have access to compost, toxins, molds? Any chance some mold has grown in the feed or litter? What about poisonous bites from snakes, scorpions, etc.? (You do not say where you live.) Any chance they found some rat poison or a rat killed by rat poison? Or just a dead rotting animal? What about heat stress? Poisonous plants? What products do you use around them?

The suddenness makes me think of toxins/poisons or bites. Mites can kill a chicken, yes, but it would have to be quite an infestation. I would get the dust on them now, and something stronger than DE. You can tackle the coop this weekend. They will have to be dusted more than once, anyway.

 

[M To The Maxx]

I live in lutz,fl we do not have rats, we do have snakes but non poisonious (garter rat and black raser snakes) we see them very little though. I feed them scratch, layena, oystershell and now fruits, veggies and green foods. Some times we mold in our water feeder but we bleach it out right away.

 

[M To The Maxx]

How would cat food help?

 

[Judy]

I hope you give scratch as a treat in small quantities. My bag of scratch says to offer it free choice. That's like giving a kid a big bowl of candy then offering supper. The layer should be 95% of their diet.

Cat food is a way of offering extra protein. Not the best way, IMHO, but a little won't hurt. Contains stuff that is not good for them in large quantities.

That's probably algae in the waterer, if it's slimy. You'd see mold in a feeder or the feed bag, or the litter. Can happen easily in that humidity, even before you get the feed home.

I promise you that you have coral snakes, rats and scorpions in your area, even if you've never seen them. I believe rattlesnakes as well.