- Apr 14, 2010
- 12
- 0
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Hi all -
Here is what has happened till now, I am mostly to the point of being curious as to whether a toxin could have killed the last three as well:
Started with 16 chickens, 6 are a little over 1 year old(mixed breeds), and 10 Americaunas, which were 3 months old. 4 days ago, let them out to free range, everyone happy, healthy. Went out early afternoon to feed table scraps(nothing they hadn't had before and nothing on the 'toxic' list)..........went to get something in the back shed a couple hours later and find 6 dead chickens, 2 big ones and 4 little ones, and missing 2 little ones that I couldn't find - still haven't (lots of pine trees around here). So, corralled the remaining ones into the tractor. They all seemed fine. Went back out to check about 2 hours later, and a small one seemed weak, just more lethargic. She was dead within half an hour.......about another hour later one of the big ones was dead.
The one small one is the only one I saw with a symptom of any kind, and the speed of death makes me believe it is a toxin - and I have kind of concluded it is botulism based on how they looked when I found them. They have all been dead with legs kind of stretched behind them - no signs of being messed with or wounds.......a couple had some feathers missing on the neck, but that could have been that way before they died. We also have a crazy gnat issue right now, but I don't think this type of mass dying in such a short time is from the gnats.
Here's the weird part for me and hoping that (unfortunately) someone has had a similar experience or can attest that a toxin like this could work this way - I had the remaining 6 chickens in the tractor, haven't let them out at all and it had been almost 48 hours since the last chicken died. These again appeared normal. Last evening I went out to feed and water, and the 3 small chickens were all dead (they died within an hour and a half of last seeing them alive). 3 remaining big chickens still seem fine and are still kicking today. It seems really strange to me that those 3 died in such a short timeframe together, and at such a later time than the initial 10 died.
Anyone have any speculation on that?
Here is what has happened till now, I am mostly to the point of being curious as to whether a toxin could have killed the last three as well:
Started with 16 chickens, 6 are a little over 1 year old(mixed breeds), and 10 Americaunas, which were 3 months old. 4 days ago, let them out to free range, everyone happy, healthy. Went out early afternoon to feed table scraps(nothing they hadn't had before and nothing on the 'toxic' list)..........went to get something in the back shed a couple hours later and find 6 dead chickens, 2 big ones and 4 little ones, and missing 2 little ones that I couldn't find - still haven't (lots of pine trees around here). So, corralled the remaining ones into the tractor. They all seemed fine. Went back out to check about 2 hours later, and a small one seemed weak, just more lethargic. She was dead within half an hour.......about another hour later one of the big ones was dead.
The one small one is the only one I saw with a symptom of any kind, and the speed of death makes me believe it is a toxin - and I have kind of concluded it is botulism based on how they looked when I found them. They have all been dead with legs kind of stretched behind them - no signs of being messed with or wounds.......a couple had some feathers missing on the neck, but that could have been that way before they died. We also have a crazy gnat issue right now, but I don't think this type of mass dying in such a short time is from the gnats.
Here's the weird part for me and hoping that (unfortunately) someone has had a similar experience or can attest that a toxin like this could work this way - I had the remaining 6 chickens in the tractor, haven't let them out at all and it had been almost 48 hours since the last chicken died. These again appeared normal. Last evening I went out to feed and water, and the 3 small chickens were all dead (they died within an hour and a half of last seeing them alive). 3 remaining big chickens still seem fine and are still kicking today. It seems really strange to me that those 3 died in such a short timeframe together, and at such a later time than the initial 10 died.
Anyone have any speculation on that?
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