Not sure what is going on - help

[berube170]

I have found 4 chickens dead of unknown causes in the past two days. They all appeared healthy and were acting fine prior to death. There has been nothing suspicious going on though it has been really hot here the last few days 90 in the sun yesterday. They have plenty of shade and water. Everyone free ranges and has 24 hour access to grain. I have several large feeders - half are full of extra egg and the other half are full of multiflock starter crumble - the babies eat mostly that. The first two were found dead the night before last when I went out to close the coop. A ranger almost a month old and a cornish rock cross about 6 weeks old. The next morning I found a cornish rooster a year old and this morning a gold comet laying hen a year old. Everyone was in full rigor when found. I am worried they might have gotten into some kind of germ or something but have no idea where to start looking. They get kitchen scraps but nothing that has passed by or rotted. They get lots of greens. The babies have a separate coop and rarely cross over to the large chicken coop though the full grown chickens tend to be everywhere. So basically the babies are on starter, whatever they catch for themselves and have their own waterers. The babies do not venture as far so do not get into the compost pile though I have seen some drinking from puddles in the field where the pigs used to be.

 

[ten chicks]

I have found 4 chickens dead of unknown causes in the past two days. They all appeared healthy and were acting fine prior to death. There has been nothing suspicious going on though it has been really hot here the last few days 90 in the sun yesterday. They have plenty of shade and water. Everyone free ranges and has 24 hour access to grain. I have several large feeders - half are full of extra egg and the other half are full of multiflock starter crumble - the babies eat mostly that. The first two were found dead the night before last when I went out to close the coop. A ranger almost a month old and a cornish rock cross about 6 weeks old. The next morning I found a cornish rooster a year old and this morning a gold comet laying hen a year old. Everyone was in full rigor when found. I am worried they might have gotten into some kind of germ or something but have no idea where to start looking. They get kitchen scraps but nothing that has passed by or rotted. They get lots of greens. The babies have a separate coop and rarely cross over to the large chicken coop though the full grown chickens tend to be everywhere. So basically the babies are on starter, whatever they catch for themselves and have their own waterers. The babies do not venture as far so do not get into the compost pile though I have seen some drinking from puddles in the field where the pigs used to be.

Possible moldy feed,algae poisoning. Have you looked up cocci?

 

[laura877]

I'm leaning towards the.cocci too only because u said they drink from where them pigs were. He k their vents to see if they r inflamed which would be a sign of lice.

 

[berube170]

They don't have any signs of lice. I had just checked everyone a few days ago to see. I have seen a couple of the smaller ones drink from the old pig pen area but my full grown chickens don't go near there. It is surrounded by electric netting only the smallest ones can get in there.

I don't see any signs of coccidosis. Everyone's poop seems to be normal, no listlessness, the chickens who died were of completely normal weight and appearance. Each of the dead chickens were found with necks and legs straight out and hard as a rock. The gold comet was out of the coop (but she can fly over the fence in the morning) which leads me to believe she must have died this morning as everyone was in last night. She would not have left the coop until the sun came up.

Does anyone have any recommendations for prophylactic treatment of the rest of my flock? I have sulmet but not sure what to do when I have no idea what is causing the problem.