My chickens are dying!

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, I only give layer feed and no scratch unless temps go under 40 or so at night. (Oh yeah, here day and night temps only vary about 15-20 deg... at most.

 

[Chris & Mary's Kids]

Well, I appreciate the input about the feed, but it doesn't make sense to me that in their third year with me, all of a sudden the feed is making them sick to the point of death. I haven't changed their feed.

I'm very disappointed in my vet. Without even hearing any details of what is happening, he had the office assistant call and tell me to give them some drug -- LM20? Can't remember. I was shocked that he'd recommend something without even talking to me. It's hard for me to believe that in a rural area there is so little interest in the health of chickens.

 

[chicknmania]

There are a lot of things they can die from with no symptoms. Some diseases are sneaky and occasionally have no symptoms; chickens are masters at not showing symptoms. Try listening outside the coop, or wherever they roost at night, to see if you hear rattly breathing or wheezing. When you're trying to find out if they have symptoms, don't stare at them; that's a guarantee they won't show any, because it reminds them, I guess, of what a predator would do before it eats them, so, of course, they don't want to show symptoms indicating weakness! Usually they will try not to show weakness around each other, either, as their friends may kill them. It's a defensive measure the flock will sometimes do, again to keep sick or injured chickens from attracting predators to the flock. You can also try just watching them from a distance out of the corner of your eye; pretend like you're looking at something else. Look for birds who are just sitting and staring, not moving around much during the day, or late to get down from a roost in the morning. Just so you know...you said it doesn't get hot there, but when it gets really hot here (high 90's) our chickens will occasionally have rattly breathing for a while when they go to roost. It seems to go away when it gets cooler.

 

[hinkjc]

I would not recommend any medication until you know what you are dealing with. Every state has a state vet, which handles chicken necropsies. I don't see what state you're in on your profile or I'd help you find yours. Google department of agriculture for your state and see if you can find a contact to identify your state vet. They will need a bird to test. If you have a recent dead one, that is preferred, but they will sometimes take a live one (don't expect it back). This is standard practice to ensure potential disease is kept under control. Please look into it for your own peace of mind and to see if you can help the rest. I am sorry for your losses.

Jody

 

[rosyposyosy]

i dont know but i think that the next time you get chicks you should get them vaccinated

 

[chicknmania]

Get a necropsy if you want to, but be forewarned that some states (such as Ohio) charge money for those; it's a lot cheaper than if a vet did it, but the cost is there. Also, they take a while; our last one the results took about a month to come back. In the meantime you should be looking for other symptoms. And, if you use the state vets, you're right, they may tell you news you don't want to hear, such as "you're under quarantine" or "you need to destroy your birds and disinfect" But, keep in mind, if they tell you that, there's a good reason. We were placed under quarantine for ILT last spring. The quarantine didn't affect us much, they didn't put up signs or anything; we did get lots of free advice from the state vets. And most of our birds survived. And, if they tell you you need to destroy your birds, unless it's mandated, you don't necessarily have to. That's just their opinion, and they're looking at it generally from a commercial standpoint. www.firststatevetsupply.com has lots of veterinary supplies available to people like us, that you can buy yourself and avoid a vet's fee, and Peter Brown, aka Chicken Doctor, runs the site, and although not a vet, he's available for consultation and is very knowledgeable about poultry.

 

[blue90292]

since everyone's giving their two cents, here's mine and please take this with a grain of salt.

i have free range flock as well as penned up breeding flock. one day, one of my girls, i found her just standing doing nothing. i went to go look at her and she didn't even walk away. i brought her in and that night she died. then a couple days later my head roo started just standing around and sitting in tall grass not eating.

so i brought him in and started him on terrymicyn (sp?). i had a feeling that he could have upper respitory which is caused by a bacteria (there's also the viral one, but we won't go there). with the temps going up and down and raining since june, i figured his immune system was a little shakey. and even if it wasn't what i suspected, and it didn't work, he probably would have died anyway, so why not try it.

i also gave him some rooster booster vitamins and put him under a heat lamp and had him inside for a couple of days. he didn't really want to eat or drink (so i forced him a little water with eye droplet) but he wasnt' getting any worse.

the third day i let him back in with his ladies (who weren't showing any symptoms) and changed their water and added terrymicyn for everyone. with his ladies around, he started eating a little again. i kept the terramycyn on them for 7 days. he started crowing again on the 5th day.

again, just my two cents.

 

[Chris & Mary's Kids]

What is terramycin (I can't spell it either)? Is it an antibiotic?

 

[farmgirl2477]

I think its a type of antibiotic, but not positive. I bought mine from the feed store rather cheap. Hopefully someone else can give you more information.

Shannon

 

[dlhunicorn]

if it is hot where you are at... have a good think about that pond... there are many things that happen in water when it is hot and begins to dry up..salt and mineral content goes up and bacteria growth expands and algae (many of these things can harm your birds. While they are ill like this I would suggest restricting their ranging and access to that pond...
while they are sick , look to see if they are panting...if they are then you need to put electrlytes/vit in their water (however do not combine this with any medication)... also add a vit supplement to their feed.