How do I stop them from dying??

[Themagicone]

I started with 75 and lost 4-5 early on. Then I have really good until now. 6 weeks on Monday, 2 to go till butcher. I've lost 4 in last 3 days. No signs of distress, just roll over and die. I'm taking away food at night. Should I push up butchering? I'm losing my profit .

 

[iwltfum]

It's hard to say what's going on here without a little more inspection/description. For starters: How much do they weigh? What is the protein content of their feed? Are they acting healthy and are they fully feathered? Are they skinny and lethargic? How are you raising them (pasture pen/coop/indoors/free range/etc)? Etc, etc.

I always assume I'm going to loose 10% of my meat birds. I don't loose that many every time, but it's good to assume you're going to have a batch that goes wrong for one reason or another. So, that being said, you haven't lost an absurd amount of birds yet, but just enough to start being concerned.

I would definitely inspect the flock rigorously asap. Check their crops, check for lice, check for bruising on the keel bone, check for discharge/build-up around the nostrils. Monitor their water and feed - make sure everything is flowing properly throughout the day and they have plenty of access to water. Make sure 60-70% of the birds can all access the feed at the same time. Etc, etc.

If another one dies, then eviscerate and inspect the organs. Not a fun job at all, but it can be very revealing when it comes to mysterious die offs. I would venture a guess that the 4 chickens that you lost in the last 3 days all died from the same cause and that the earlier die off in the brooder was a separate issue. Wishing you the best of luck with this and a successful harvest.

 

[Mtnboomer]

Please provide more details. Breed, age, climate, location, housing set up, etc.

Chickens can die from literally anything. Without any info to go on, its hard to offer any suggestions save one; take at least one bird in for a necropsy by a professional veterinary pathologist. That is the only way to find out for sure.

One random backyard bird dying may not warrant a necropsy. But if you are looking for commercial gain and are losing multiple birds, it would be worth the price to prevent further loss.

 

[Themagicone]

Just plain old cornish crosses. I'll go through the rest tomorrow and weigh them. See if can figure anything out. I did change all their bedding today. Dang they like to poop.

 

[NatJ]

Did you notice whether the ones that died recently were bigger or smaller than the others? If the biggest ones died, you should probably hurry up and butcher the rest. If smallest or middle-sized ones died, then something else is wrong.

 

[Themagicone]

I think they were on the larger size. I have butchering scheduled for May 17th. Unfortunately I can't move that up. I have them on 19% finisher. Here's to hoping not losing many more.

 

[Themagicone]

Another 1 dead in the coop this morning and 1 more looking like its on its way out. This whole thing blew up in my face. Most are not any where near a butcher weight.

 

[iwltfum]

How is the one that's on its way out acting? Can it walk? If you put its face right next to the water, will it drink (same with the feed?)? Is it on its side? One wing out to the side? Are the tail feathers hunched down? Is there alot of poop smears around its vent? Is the bedding wet at all? Sorry about the all the questions, but there are still alot of possibilities here.

If you can bring yourself to open up the one that died this morning and inspect the organs, I would definitely do that. Even if you've never seen the inside of a bird, you might be able to tell if it's heart attack, worms, fatty liver disease, green muscle disease, etc. Keep truckin on it, you still have 65 birds, which is alot of meat.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I'm taking away food at night.

How much are you feeding them during the day? Cornish Cross should be fed a measured amount of feed per their age in days and body weight. They should have no food left in the feeders to be taken away at night. If they're allowed to feed all day, they're possibly dying of heart attacks and stroke. Just one possibility.