Please help! 2 healthy pullets passed away out of nowhere

Hloren

In the Brooder
Joined
Sep 16, 2025
Messages
11
Reaction score
14
Points
29
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)

Polish, almost 1 years old

Silkie, 8 months



2) What is the behavior, exactly.



Polish: Today I found her at the top of the roasting bars which is unlike her to not get down in the morning.

I put her down and she’s laying down, bobbing her tail up and down, has an open beak breathing heavy, ruffled feathers

She had liquid in her crop, not firm. She died within 2 hours.



Silkie: healthy bird found dead in the morning



3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?



Found her like this at 10 am, she was fine last night, died within 2 hours



4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?



No but I did lose a healthy silkie last week



5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.

No



6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.



No idea



7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.



Yesterday night she was



8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.



Haven’t seen her poop



9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?



No, unsure what she has



10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?



Prefer to treat myself



11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.



12) Describe the housing/bedding in use

They live on straw and chicken sand.





I’ve lost 2 healthy pullets one week apart. Both were fine the night before and died in the morning. Please let me know what I can do to keep from losing more birds. Not sure if they’re getting cold at night. I’m in NE FL, weather has been 38 to 60s. I’ve covered areas that could get a draft.



Both were vaccinated against coccidious 4+ months ago. The polish came from a hatchery thus had many vaccines prior to sale.
 
Last edited:
Hi! Very sorry about your losses. :hugs

No, they aren't too cold. Our silkies were outside today at 22F.

These three who recently died, did they all come from the same hatchery? How long has it been since you added them or any birds?

Were there no symptoms except for the one that was tail bobbing, open beak breathing, and ruffled feathers?

Are you able to take a fecal sample of a couple of them to a vet?
 
If you can keep the body cold in a refrigerator wrapped in a plastic bag until Monday am, you contact the state vet for a necropsy. That is the beat way to determine what causes the death. Sorry for your loss. Here is a list for your state vet:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html
 
Hi! Very sorry about your losses. :hugs

No, they aren't too cold. Our silkies were outside today at 22F.

These three who recently died, did they all come from the same hatchery? How long has it been since you added them or any birds?

Were there no symptoms except for the one that was tail bobbing, open beak breathing, and ruffled feathers?

Are you able to take a fecal sample of a couple of them to a vet?
No I’ve had the polish almost a year now. She came from a hatchery.
The silkie came from a breeder 3 months ago. I haven’t added any new birds for 3 months.

Polish was acting completely normal the day/night before. So was the silkie. Both eating and drinking, running around.

Symptoms today: unable to get down from the top roosting bar, laying down on ground once I got her off, fluid/gas in croup, open mouth breathing, ruffled feathers, bobbing tail, colder than normal.
I brought her in the house to try to warm her. She passed within 2 hours.

The silkie passed away last week and I found her newly deceased so I was unable to see any symptoms prior to passing.

They were all treated with ivermectin 4 weeks ago as a prevention. I have not seen any parasites on them.

I can’t bring her in to get a fecal now as I had to bury her. I called every possible avian lab in FL and all were closed.
 
If you can keep the body cold in a refrigerator wrapped in a plastic bag until Monday am, you contact the state vet for a necropsy. That is the beat way to determine what causes the death. Sorry for your loss. Here is a list for your state vet:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html
Thank you for the list, I wish I knew earlier. I tried calling 3 labs and they were all closed.
I assumed I had to bury her at point.
 
No I’ve had the polish almost a year now. She came from a hatchery.
The silkie came from a breeder 3 months ago. I haven’t added any new birds for 3 months.

Polish was acting completely normal the day/night before. So was the silkie. Both eating and drinking, running around.

Symptoms today: unable to get down from the top roosting bar, laying down on ground once I got her off, fluid/gas in croup, open mouth breathing, ruffled feathers, bobbing tail, colder than normal.
I brought her in the house to try to warm her. She passed within 2 hours.

The silkie passed away last week and I found her newly deceased so I was unable to see any symptoms prior to passing.

They were all treated with ivermectin 4 weeks ago as a prevention. I have not seen any parasites on them.

I’ll try that, hopefully I find one this does this service for chickens.
 
Symptoms today: unable to get down from the top roosting bar, laying down on ground once I got her off, fluid/gas in croup, open mouth breathing, ruffled feathers, bobbing tail, colder than normal.
Sounds like a Crop Issue and perhaps something reproductive. (Fluid/Gas in the crop can cause respiratory distress in certain situations).

I'm sorry for your losses. If you lose another, then having a necropsy will give you the best information.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom