ChiknMama1983
In the Brooder
- Jun 23, 2025
- 10
- 2
- 11
We have lost 4 chicks alone this week and my heart is hurting, these are my babies. I can’t figure out what is going on. I apologize for the lengthy post….
We lost an Easter egger/cream legbar mix unexpectedly a couple weeks ago. We combined our new flock (13ish weeks) in with our current year old hens. The first night we went to lock them up and she seemed a little disoriented. The following morning she was very disoriented, running into walls, having almost seizure like movements, seemed to also be “stargazing”. She ended up passing the next day and we never figured out what was wrong.
Earlier this week my husband went to let the girls out of the coop in the AM and 2 of them (1 was a barred rock, 1 silver laced wyondotte) were barely moving, very weak, displaying signs of paralysis and also “stargazing”. He said the Wyandotte was almost lifeless. He brought them in the house and gave them nutri-drench. By the time he got an area set up for them inside, the Wyandotte passed away. It was within 15 minutes. He left the barred rock inside with food/water and had to go to work. He did say the barred rock felt very light when he picked her up. I was out of town this week so he was coming home on his lunch breaks to give them fresh, cool water and check on them. The barred rock had passed away by them time he came home for lunch. My husband had to literally run around to catch them the night prior, so this progressed very quickly.
Two nights ago we lost 2 more (1 lavender Orpington & 1 Olive egger). The Olive Egger who I called “my little girl” has always been a little off. We were never able to quite diagnose anything, but she was very slow to grow. She was 13 weeks, but closer in size to our 9 week old chicks. She always seemed to have balance issues and was always unsteady. She was also very lax compared to everyone else and was always laying around. About a month ago she was able to start perching and we were excited for her and thought maybe she had something neurologically wrong and would just be a little disabled. We even considered keeping her an indoor chicken because she would often get picked on by the others and we didn’t think she would thrive outside with high energy chickens. Her and the lavender Orpington passed away in their sleep. The lavender was also a little off in that she slept a lot and didn’t display the energy levels of the others. She would try to jump up to perch and was unable to, but there was a point where she was able to. It’s just so bizarre that they both passed the same night. I purchased her and another lavender Orpington from a local farm and have lost both of them. The first one passed very suddenly out of nowhere one day when she was just a few weeks old. She never seemed sick. I don’t know if we just got a sick batch or what?
We now have another chick (9ish week Americauna) who last week was completely fine, this week is showing signs of paralysis and can barely walk. We have her separated, but I have a feeling she will pass next. I do plan to have an autopsy done if another one passes. I have tried figuring this out and thinking possibly Marek’s? Does anyone have any insight to what could be going on? Their diet is primarily chick starter feed, occasional meal worms, fruits & veggies. They get fresh water daily, multiple times a day. I rotate putting in hydro hen, poultry cell & rooster booster and also do just plain fresh water as well. Our original flock is fine and not displaying any symptoms. We have separated the new flock from our original for now. We are just at a loss and my heart can’t take losing more. We are to the point where we dread letting them out in the AM out of fear of finding another one sick or dead. This year has been so rough for us, we have only had chickens for a little over a year and never had any issues with our first flock.
We lost an Easter egger/cream legbar mix unexpectedly a couple weeks ago. We combined our new flock (13ish weeks) in with our current year old hens. The first night we went to lock them up and she seemed a little disoriented. The following morning she was very disoriented, running into walls, having almost seizure like movements, seemed to also be “stargazing”. She ended up passing the next day and we never figured out what was wrong.
Earlier this week my husband went to let the girls out of the coop in the AM and 2 of them (1 was a barred rock, 1 silver laced wyondotte) were barely moving, very weak, displaying signs of paralysis and also “stargazing”. He said the Wyandotte was almost lifeless. He brought them in the house and gave them nutri-drench. By the time he got an area set up for them inside, the Wyandotte passed away. It was within 15 minutes. He left the barred rock inside with food/water and had to go to work. He did say the barred rock felt very light when he picked her up. I was out of town this week so he was coming home on his lunch breaks to give them fresh, cool water and check on them. The barred rock had passed away by them time he came home for lunch. My husband had to literally run around to catch them the night prior, so this progressed very quickly.
Two nights ago we lost 2 more (1 lavender Orpington & 1 Olive egger). The Olive Egger who I called “my little girl” has always been a little off. We were never able to quite diagnose anything, but she was very slow to grow. She was 13 weeks, but closer in size to our 9 week old chicks. She always seemed to have balance issues and was always unsteady. She was also very lax compared to everyone else and was always laying around. About a month ago she was able to start perching and we were excited for her and thought maybe she had something neurologically wrong and would just be a little disabled. We even considered keeping her an indoor chicken because she would often get picked on by the others and we didn’t think she would thrive outside with high energy chickens. Her and the lavender Orpington passed away in their sleep. The lavender was also a little off in that she slept a lot and didn’t display the energy levels of the others. She would try to jump up to perch and was unable to, but there was a point where she was able to. It’s just so bizarre that they both passed the same night. I purchased her and another lavender Orpington from a local farm and have lost both of them. The first one passed very suddenly out of nowhere one day when she was just a few weeks old. She never seemed sick. I don’t know if we just got a sick batch or what?
We now have another chick (9ish week Americauna) who last week was completely fine, this week is showing signs of paralysis and can barely walk. We have her separated, but I have a feeling she will pass next. I do plan to have an autopsy done if another one passes. I have tried figuring this out and thinking possibly Marek’s? Does anyone have any insight to what could be going on? Their diet is primarily chick starter feed, occasional meal worms, fruits & veggies. They get fresh water daily, multiple times a day. I rotate putting in hydro hen, poultry cell & rooster booster and also do just plain fresh water as well. Our original flock is fine and not displaying any symptoms. We have separated the new flock from our original for now. We are just at a loss and my heart can’t take losing more. We are to the point where we dread letting them out in the AM out of fear of finding another one sick or dead. This year has been so rough for us, we have only had chickens for a little over a year and never had any issues with our first flock.
