Not an emergency, or even sure where to ask about pullets that died

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I sell lots of chickens from day-olds up and this is the first time I've encountered this.
My brother (who has chickens in GA) had a friend that wanted POL BR girls. I took I think 8 girls down last fall for him to deliver to his friend.
From all reports til last week, the BR girls were doing great, laying well and such --- at their new home.

I'd been getting reports every month about how great they were doing and when they started laying and they were laying so well.

I got a call last week "the BR's I got from you must have had some disease, because they all just died"!
WHAT!
I found out she'd just recently added to her flock (youngsters and older hens) and they are OK, but all the girls from here that were healthy before --- dropped dead.
What in the world could it be?
I know there was no quarantine going on and my birds are not vaccinated for anything.

It's kind of unsettling to me. I know my birds are/were healthy when they left and were healthy there up to the point they added 'new birds'.

I know it's a tall order, but what could have caused the hens from here to just die when exposed to other birds?

As it stands, the birds from here were obviously 'diseased', because they were the ones that died. (go figure that logic)
Thanks,
Lisa

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

I don't have an answer, but I'm interested in other's answers to you.

I recently had a similar problem. I know the bird I sold was healthy when it left my place, but it died (went downhill fast) within a week or two of being at it's new home. I cannot state that it for certain was not sick to begin with, but none of my own chickens are sick (nor am I npip cert. or anything tested or vaccinated, just a backyard flock.

Plus, other birds I sold at the same time frame are all healthy and living at their new homes. (no necropsy or fecal samples were done, to determine cause of sickness).

Like your situation, the person who bought the chicken from me also had other new birds (who did not appear sick).

I can come up with a whole list of reasons that the chicken would have gotten sick and died, but the only acceptable answer, it seems, is that I sold a sick chicken.

 

[Suellyn]

Mojo, your situation makes a LITTLE more sense to me than DipsyDD's... Since your bird just went into a "new" environment, maybe it stressed mentally & physically, so any little thing (genetic, MINOR disease, etc, NOT saying you sold a "SICK" chicken) could have tipped the scales against her & cause illness/death... ??

Makes less sense with a GROUP of chickens that were already thriving in "the environment" for a good while... That IS really weird, I'm sorry I don't have any good idea of what it could be, will be interested to hear what others say. It seems it HAS to be related to the new chickens, either directly (disease???) or from the impact they somehow had on the BR's environment (food, water, temp...???).

Did they say if the BR's had ANY symptoms prior to death? And how many of them died within what timeframe (same day? same week?)

If it was all within a day or two, I think my vote might be a toxin... doesn't make sense in terms of "new chickens", I know, but I can't think of very many things that can cause death THAT QUICKLY in multiple birds, with no major warning symptoms...

Maybe the "new ones" scared the BR's into a new area that they hadn't been into before, where they could get into something harmful????

:

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
Yeah, I believe a HUGE part of it was stress - totally different environment, totally different food, etc... She was a small chicken to begin with (banty wtb jap) I would think that any stress would be compounded by her small size.

meri

 

[EngieKisses]

Since they did not quarentine first, the new chickens could have brought something with them and infected the existing. Chickens from even close homes have different bacteria and such that does not make them sick, but can others. Since they were healthy up until the new additions, I would say they probably were not sick ahead of time.

 

[Kimiko]

I'm guessing the new birds had something--a little more info would be helpful.

How old were your chickens? How old are the new chickens? Any sneezing, diarrhea, respiratory problems, eating issues? How long were they all together before the old chickens died?

Were the new birds quarantined at all? Are they showing any signs now?

 

[shelleyd2008]

If the 'new' chickens that the person had gotten had been vaccinated for anything, this would have acted like a disease to the ones that were not vaccinated for it. I know that some diseases can also be 'carried' by birds, so the bird itself won't show symptoms, but any other birds around it can be infected.

 

[mainchick]

that is weird, no symptoms at all? sounds like toxins or poison.........but how and why?

 

[Kimiko]

Quote:
Off the top of my head this is only true for Infectious Larygotracheitis--and that's not often used.

Heavy metal or toxins I'd expect some of the new chickens to have died and some of the old ones to have lived unless it's a chronic exposure and the timeline is coincidental with arrival of the new chickens.

Most likely they new chickens are carrying something and often asking about diarrhea/sneezing/eating habits elicits a memory. 8 chickens aren't usually fine one day and drop dead the next.

Exposure time is also important--2 weeks is a very different playing field than 2 months.

Ideally, a necropsy would reveal all. It would also let your brother's friend know if the new chickens have something that mean a closed flock in the future. I'm not sure why your chickens, who have been healthy for several months, are assumed to be the problem. Odds are the new chickens have something.

Sorry for your loss

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! Considering the circumstances, I didn't think for a moment my birds had been 'diseased' --- the BR's were healthy here and healthy for months until they added new birds to the flock.
I mentioned the situation in conversation (we were discussing my potential npip certification) and was *told* the cause of deaths was likely Pullorum.
I was *told* it's hard to find a flock in that area that doesn't carry it.

Now I have to go look up what that is.

Lisa