Multiple chickens died

[Hobbits Mommie]

If they ate a poisoned rat, they would be exposed to the poison. That's the one draw back to poison. It doesn't just kill the intended victim, it also kills anything that eats the victim. Dogs, cats, wild animals...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

thanks for your reply
We bought them when they were 4-6 weeks old in July 2018
Our coop is a garden shed about 8x12
Really cold that day was 18 degrees Fahrenheit. We are in Oskaloosa, Kansas
The coop has a small vent and then we have a hole cut in the side that they can go in and out of. Usually we keep the main door open but because it was so cold we shut them so the only ventilation was the hole in the side that is just a bit larger than a full size Rhode Island Red.

We do have a trap box with rat poison in it but the chickens can't get into it. Do you think if they ate a mouse that had been poisoned it could kill them?

Personally I would not add heat and they need much much more ventilation.
I understand it doesn't seem to make sense, but their feces emits ammonia, it's moist and chicken breath is moist as well - all this moisture and "fumes" needs a place to go - and that is up and out.
At their age, they should all be just fine in those temperatures, they just need protection from wind and drafts.

Here's a good article about ventilation http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/c...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

 

[rebrascora]

Thank you so for your wealth of knowledge. Something has been getting in the coop and stealing our eggs and we've caught several black rat snakes in there. I'm curious about Marek's disease. It seems that the younger birds should have started laying. We recently discovered that one of the birds we got in July is a rooster and he has been all over the hens. The odd thing is that one of the dead birds was one of the old flock and one of our best layers. She had lost most of her feathers on her back and chest. Is that a symptom?

When you say old flock..... how old? Any bird in her second autumn will moult. Her feather loss could have been a combination of over mating from the cockerel causing the feather loss on her back and moult causing loss of feathers on her chest or she may have had an issue that caused her to pluck her chest feathers.... sour crop (a yeast infection) can cause irritation and lead to feather plucking. Marek's in itself, much as it has a multitude of possible symptoms, does not cause feather loss as far as I am aware. Stress from an adolescent cockerel's over amorous attentions is one of the key triggers for Marek's in my experience and if the 4-6 week olds brought the virus with them she may have been infected but only now succumb to the disease.

I think though that it may be telling that you closed the door on this occasion and reduced the ventilation so drastically and together with the heat lamp, that may have been the issue. Have you checked the light bulb to make sure it is not shatter proof and hence Teflon coated?

 

[Shadrach]

thanks for your reply
We bought them when they were 4-6 weeks old in July 2018
Our coop is a garden shed about 8x12
Really cold that day was 18 degrees Fahrenheit. We are in Oskaloosa, Kansas
The coop has a small vent and then we have a hole cut in the side that they can go in and out of. Usually we keep the main door open but because it was so cold we shut them so the only ventilation was the hole in the side that is just a bit larger than a full size Rhode Island Red.

We do have a trap box with rat poison in it but the chickens can't get into it. Do you think if they ate a mouse that had been poisoned it could kill them?

Where did you buy them?

 

[keggimann]

When you say old flock..... how old? Any bird in her second autumn will moult. Her feather loss could have been a combination of over mating from the cockerel causing the feather loss on her back and moult causing loss of feathers on her chest or she may have had an issue that caused her to pluck her chest feathers.... sour crop (a yeast infection) can cause irritation and lead to feather plucking. Marek's in itself, much as it has a multitude of possible symptoms, does not cause feather loss as far as I am aware. Stress from an adolescent cockerel's over amorous attentions is one of the key triggers for Marek's in my experience and if the 4-6 week olds brought the virus with them she may have been infected but only now succumb to the disease.

I think though that it may be telling that you closed the door on this occasion and reduced the ventilation so drastically and together with the heat lamp, that may have been the issue. Have you checked the light bulb to make sure it is not shatter proof and hence Teflon

The older birds are 2-3 years old. We’ve had them for a year. We took the heat lamp out yesterday and opened the coop door but we found another dead chicken today. The bulb for the heat lamp was purchased at orschelins farm supply and says splatter proof but not shatter proof. The package says nothing about Teflon. I’m hoping our local vet will take a look at this bird and be able to tell me what’s going on.

 

[keggimann]

Where did you buy them?

From an individual

 

[Shadrach]

From an individual

I just wondered if you could get in touch with this individual and see if he/she is having similar problems.

 

[rebrascora]

Your older bird was almost certainly moulting at that age as well as suffering mating damage.
The likelihood of Marek's Disease is higher if you bought them from an individual.
There was another post very recently about the same "splatter" proof bulb bought from Orschelns, so I would be suspicious of that. I am really not sure what "splatter proof" means in relation to a bulb but suggests to me it is coated with something.
You local vet will be much more expensive and less knowledgeable for a necropsy than your state diagnostics lab. You can send in refrigerated carcasses via a courier in an insulated box with freezer packs. If you include your location (state) on your profile page we can see at a glance where in the world you are and give appropriate advice including details about your state facilities.

 

[rebrascora]

Just to cross reference the other post I mentioned....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ign-of-predators.1280551/page-3#post-20641899