Losing Chickens

[mccmeadows]

Hi there,

I don’t know if this falls under “diseases” or “flock management”, but I was hoping to pick some brains and hopefully figure out what is going on with our flock.

On August 8th, I opened our one outdoor coop and all the 4-5 month old Wyandotte’s ran out. Weirdly, Queenie also came out with the group. Very unlike her as she always waited inside for me to bring fresh food and water and sneak her some extra greens as she was my favourite. I continued opening up everyone else and did food/water. During this time, I noticed she was just sitting on the ground. I got my partner to come out and we made the decision to pull her out and set her aside and see if she would eat. I made her an egg with some fresh fruits/veg and some grain and gave her some honey water. We left her to eat it and a wee while later I checked on her and she had passed. I am still devastated because literally her only symptom was acting differently and in my head I maybe thought it had to do with the heat/humidity and figured she just needed a little pick me up.

We took a chore break after she passed as I just wasn’t feeling up to doing much other than mourn the loss of my favourite gal. When we came back out about 2-3hrs later, we were shocked to see a SLW dead in the run. Zero signs of injury/disease. This hen was the bottom of the pecking order and was missing most of her tail feathers but other than that, nothing. Since then, no birds developed any symptoms. We deep cleaned the coop that night out of caution, but nothing else terrible happened.

Fast forward to yesterday.. we had a disabled chicken as part of this Wyandotte group. He was a no-necked hunchback that the guy we got these birds off of was just going to kill after the rest of his hatch mates were gone. I didn’t love that, so we brought Quasi home with us. He foraged fine, ate fine, drank with no problems and just lived a happy life. Unfortunately yesterday we did an early afternoon water check as the weather has been unbearably hot and humid and Quasi was on his side by the feeder dead. Again, no signs of disease or injury. Today, one of Queenie’s hatch mates was found similarly - inside the coop dead around noon. This is now 4/14 that have passed - 2 SLW and 2 splash BLRW.

Have we been cursed with a sick flock? Are they dying from the heat/humidity? Is it something we’re doing? Our other coops seem fine and we haven’t had any losses in those groups. We were getting ready to move these Wyandotte’s to their final groups (half to the hen house and half to a coop with a rooster) but now I’m too worried that they’re going to bring down our other flocks.

I’ve been trying to keep an eye on their comb colour, etc. but they haven’t even reddened up yet, only a couple of the SLWs have, so I don’t know. Everyone’s poop seems normal. Food/water consumption seems normal. I feel like I’m going crazy and don’t know how much more loss I can take, especially with losing Queenie and Quasi who were both the brightest part of everyday.

I attached a couple photos, open to any input anyone might have. Thanks!

 

[cavemanrich]

No location in your profile,,,,,, so I do not know where you live. You do mention it is HOT. Since it is hot where you are,, the heat may be the factor. Certain chickens tolerate heat better than other breeds.
Second factor, and a very important one,,,,,, is ventilation.
Ventilation is important year round. In summer so the chickens do not experience a sauna. In winter,,, so they do not get frostbite from too much humidity. All seasons,,,,, to remove the ammonia buildup from chicken poop.
I can not tell from your posted pix how the ventilation setup is in your coops. Many peeps assume it is sufficient,,,,, but in reality it is not.
Post some pix, and many here can offer opinions on it.
In @aart signature there are links to quickly jump to excellent info about VENTILATION.
Aart is one of the leaders in ventilation information (as well as other subjects) here on BYC.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[aart]

all the 4-5 month old Wyandotte’s ran out.

Where did you get these birds?
The only way to know for sure is to get a necropsy done.

Are they dying from the heat/humidity?

How hot and humid?
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[mccmeadows]

No location in your profile,,,,,, so I do not know where you live. You do mention it is HOT. Since it is hot where you are,, the heat may be the factor. Certain chickens tolerate heat better than other breeds.
Second factor, and a very important one,,,,,, is ventilation.
Ventilation is important year round. In summer so the chickens do not experience a sauna. In winter,,, so they do not get frostbite from too much humidity. All seasons,,,,, to remove the ammonia buildup from chicken poop.
I can not tell from your posted pix how the ventilation setup is in your coops. Many peeps assume it is sufficient,,,,, but in reality it is not.
Post some pix, and many here can offer opinions on it.
In @aart signature there are links to quickly jump to excellent info about VENTILATION.
Aart is one of the leaders in ventilation information (as well as other subjects) here on BYC.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

We are in Southern Ontario, but the temperatures these passed few weeks have been upwards of 37 degrees and very humid. For example, today the high is 31 with 99% humidity, which means it feels more like 45 (119F) degrees. We’ve been changing the water 3 times a day, giving extra electrolytes, frozen treats, etc. in hopes the heat won’t effect anybody. Other than these out of the blue deaths, no one else seems to be having a problem. We have Orpingtons, a couple other Wyandotte’s, Blue Andalusions and a mixed bag of rainbow layers. This coop is 4x8 with an open roof and a dryer vent. The birds are outside for upwards of 13hrs a day (at their choice, but most prefer to be outdoors than in) and we clean the coop completely once a week. I attached photos. Thanks for reply and I will check out those links from Aart!

 

[mccmeadows]

Where did you get these birds?
The only way to know for sure is to get a necropsy done.


How hot and humid?
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
View attachment 2814172

Added location, thanks for the tip! We are in Southern Ontario, but the weather has been wicked lately. Under a heat warning almost everyday it seems. Today for example the high is 31 with 99% humidity, which means it will feel more like 45(119F) degrees.

The birds were purchased at weeks old from a breeder a couple hours away. I of course wanted certain birds and our only hatchery in the area didn’t have them. The set up was ok, fairly clean and all the adults we saw seemed healthy. They didn’t have any outdoor access which I didn’t love, but we’ve allowed them outside since we got them home and settled.

 

[Swbertrand1]

Heat is a likely culprit. 119 is hard for many things to survive. Is it possible to get a fan to your run/coop? Even a box fan on an extension cord will do in a pinch.

Water, water, water the flock. Make sure they have access to LOTS of clean, fresh water in scorching heat. Put some ice-cubes in the water every few hours. It looks like you have room to slide a small container of water (like a child's plastic pool or low-sided plastic storage container) under the coop that they can stand in to get some relief from the heat, and you can add some ice-cubes to that too.

If you have the ability to bring the birds inside to an air-conditioned area for an hour or so, that helps as well. In extreme heat, we'll scoop up a couple of our birds and bring them into the A/C for some relief. They sure seem to appreciate the cool...

Last, does the coop get any shade at all during the day? It looks like it might have direct sun exposure all day - not good for keeping the heat down. If you can set up your coop run so that it's not exposed all day to direct sun, that will help as well.
Color of the paint on the coop is something we considered too, since darker colors absorb more of the hot sun rays than lighter colors. In other words, a black colored coop will be scorching in the sun; a white colored coop will be much less hot because white reflects the suns heat. Every color in between will be varying degrees of cooler versus warmer between black and white - put your hand on a black colored car in the sun, then on a white one sometime to see what I mean.

 

[mccmeadows]

Heat is a likely culprit. 119 is hard for many things to survive. Is it possible to get a fan to your run/coop? Even a box fan on an extension cord will do in a pinch.

Water, water, water the flock. Make sure they have access to LOTS of clean, fresh water in scorching heat. Put some ice-cubes in the water every few hours. It looks like you have room to slide a small container of water (like a child's plastic pool or low-sided plastic storage container) under the coop that they can stand in to get some relief from the heat, and you can add some ice-cubes to that too.

If you have the ability to bring the birds inside to an air-conditioned area for an hour or so, that helps as well. In extreme heat, we'll scoop up a couple of our birds and bring them into the A/C for some relief. They sure seem to appreciate the cool...

Last, does the coop get any shade at all during the day? It looks like it might have direct sun exposure all day - not good for keeping the heat down. If you can set up your coop run so that it's not exposed all day to direct sun, that will help as well.
Color of the paint on the coop is something we considered too, since darker colors absorb more of the hot sun rays than lighter colors. In other words, a black colored coop will be scorching in the sun; a white colored coop will be much less hot because white reflects the suns heat. Every color in between will be varying degrees of cooler versus warmer between black and white - put your hand on a black colored car in the sun, then on a white one sometime to see what I mean.

Most of it is shaded for most of the day and then underneath is always shade. I will try the water pan though for them to stand in, great idea thanks so much!!