Silkies 8-12 months old Dying Unexpectedly

Phillisy

Songster
Apr 9, 2019
135
638
166
Alberta, Canada
I recently just lost one of my roosters; he was completely fine last night (following me around, eating, drinking, pooping, etc), and this morning, dead. The thing is, this is my 4th Silkie to pass in the last 2 months. Aside from one, all of them have been completely fine the night before (I’m very hands on with my birds, spending a couple hours each day with them, so I notice as soon as something is off), and I find them dead in the morning.

The first to pass was a hen that was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and suffered a back injury which she didn’t recover from (I kept her in my house for a week, along with a hen who has wry neck, and the other hen is still fine over a month later). The second, a roo in one of the nesting boxes (plastic dish pans with AstroTurf bottoms at the time) upside down. The third, a hen that just looked like she was asleep. All 3 of these birds passed within 2 weeks of each other, but all were hatched at the same time and were from shipped eggs from the same breeder, so I chalked it up to freak accidents or possible bad genetics. I completely disinfected my coop, just in case, changed my nesting boxes, and didn’t have any other issues for over a month. Then today I lost another roo, this one found sprawled awkwardly in the new nesting boxes with 2 of my hens, but this roo hatched 5 months earlier than the others did, and is not from the same breeder, so now I’m worried.

Their coop is new (8x8’, and there are 15 Silkies in it), so it is not contaminated with anything. There are no bloody droppings in the coop. No sign of mites. None of them had any physical marks on them. I keep 3 other coops of different breed chickens (two Brahma, one Australorp), all of them are fine. I also keep ducks and geese, as well as quail, and they’re all fine; no deaths to date. All are housed separately, but I wear the same boots into all the coops. Aside from 3 of my geese, all of my birds have been hatched here, and I do not allow anyone else who keeps chickens in my coop or runs.
The Silkies get vitamin water, are fed oyster shell free choice, and get around 20% protein (they were getting too thin with less) from a grain mix I buy locally, mixed 50/50 with store bought pelleted type feed. All of my birds except the quail get this feed, mixed to various protein ratios, so I don’t think it’s a feed contamination issue.


Due to no contact procedures the farm vets near me are booked up way fuller than usual and not taking “new” patients (ie. if the bird hasn’t been there before, they won’t see it), so I can’t get through to have a necropsy done. I’m going to keep pestering them regardless, but is there any clues I should be looking for in the meantime? I’m at a complete loss! What could be going on? I’ve only had Silkies for a couple of years, so they are a relatively “new” breed to me, and I know they have a tendency to be finicky, but this doesn’t seem normal...?
 
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I'm at a loss as well. I could buy the rooster dropping dead. Often young roos will have compromised hearts and just drop dead. I had that happen once in my flock. Alive and very well the day before. Found dead as a doornail in the morning in his crow spot. But with another roo and another hen too (I'm not counting the accident hen...that's just mishap).

It could be genetics from the one hatch. A slow failure to thrive from that group. Shipped eggs can weaken embryos. I could totally believe that. I had a batch of breeder eggs from a coveted, but rather rare breed, hatch, but every last one of the chicks was not particularly thrifty. Everyone of them died in the first year of that batch. So that could definitely have played into several deaths.

Also, Silkies are subject to environmental fluctuations. Has the temps changed dramatically? Are they on nice bark chips to keep them out of the mud? Nice non-drafty roosts? (I'm assuming they live in a palace from great quality care, but have to ask).

It honestly could be just a terrible toss of bad luck with little things adding up.

Has anyone had any sign of wing drop or stumbling. Whenever a bunch of Silkies start getting sick, I begin to suspicion Marek's as the breed is susceptible.

I'm going to follow to see what others might offer.

I'm so sorry for your losses. This is frustrating. :hugs
LofMc
 
I'm at a loss as well. I could buy the rooster dropping dead. Often young roos will have compromised hearts and just drop dead. I had that happen once in my flock. Alive and very well the day before. Found dead as a doornail in the morning in his crow spot. But with another roo and another hen too (I'm not counting the accident hen...that's just mishap).

It could be genetics from the one hatch. A slow failure to thrive from that group. Shipped eggs can weaken embryos. I could totally believe that. I had a batch of breeder eggs from a coveted, but rather rare breed, hatch, but every last one of the chicks was not particularly thrifty. Everyone of them died in the first year of that batch. So that could definitely have played into several deaths.

Also, Silkies are subject to environmental fluctuations. Has the temps changed dramatically? Are they on nice bark chips to keep them out of the mud? Nice non-drafty roosts? (I'm assuming they live in a palace from great quality care, but have to ask).

It honestly could be just a terrible toss of bad luck with little things adding up.

Has anyone had any sign of wing drop or stumbling. Whenever a bunch of Silkies start getting sick, I begin to suspicion Marek's as the breed is susceptible.

I'm going to follow to see what others might offer.

I'm so sorry for your losses. This is frustrating. :hugs
LofMc

Thank you :hugs it is very frustrating. Of course the ones that pass are always the favourites too. Insult to injury is that I just lost one of my call drakes a couple of days ago to a predator:hit when it rains it pours as they say.

The Silkies are on 4” of shavings, which gets cleaned regularly, and they have “special” mini roosts that are only 8 or so inches off the ground. It’s a walk in coop, so it is ventilated near the ceiling, but there are no drafts down where the birds are. We did recently just come out of a short but bad cold snap (-35 to -40C, but I did offer them an additional layer of straw bedding and heat during it), so that could have been a factor for this roo, but the others all passed before the weather dropped (we’ve had an unseasonably warm winter here this year).

Mareks was my first worry too, but no signs of wing drop, loss of coordination, or any lethargy.

I’m really hoping the first 2, not including the one with the back injury, were genetic issues, and this guy was just a fluke. He has always been very passive, verging on derpy; the other roos ignore him, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him mount any hens. He was also prone to getting quite messy on the back end (which I cleaned regularly). So it could be that he had underlying issues too...

I will definitely try to get ahold of the agricultural office directly, thank you!
 
I'm at a loss as well. I could buy the rooster dropping dead. Often young roos will have compromised hearts and just drop dead. I had that happen once in my flock. Alive and very well the day before. Found dead as a doornail in the morning in his crow spot. But with another roo and another hen too (I'm not counting the accident hen...that's just mishap).

It could be genetics from the one hatch. A slow failure to thrive from that group. Shipped eggs can weaken embryos. I could totally believe that. I had a batch of breeder eggs from a coveted, but rather rare breed, hatch, but every last one of the chicks was not particularly thrifty. Everyone of them died in the first year of that batch. So that could definitely have played into several deaths.

Also, Silkies are subject to environmental fluctuations. Has the temps changed dramatically? Are they on nice bark chips to keep them out of the mud? Nice non-drafty roosts? (I'm assuming they live in a palace from great quality care, but have to ask).

It honestly could be just a terrible toss of bad luck with little things adding up.

Has anyone had any sign of wing drop or stumbling. Whenever a bunch of Silkies start getting sick, I begin to suspicion Marek's as the breed is susceptible.

I'm going to follow to see what others might offer.

I'm so sorry for your losses. This is frustrating. :hugs
LofMc
I'm sorry for ur loss , I have had the same ,, 3 bald neck silkies died b4 the age of 4mth . Today we found my 8mth old silkies hen dead yet fine last night. Got one left , his 8mth old so keeping a close eye on him
 
I recently just lost one of my roosters; he was completely fine last night (following me around, eating, drinking, pooping, etc), and this morning, dead. The thing is, this is my 4th Silkie to pass in the last 2 months. Aside from one, all of them have been completely fine the night before (I’m very hands on with my birds, spending a couple hours each day with them, so I notice as soon as something is off), and I find them dead in the morning.

The first to pass was a hen that was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and suffered a back injury which she didn’t recover from (I kept her in my house for a week, along with a hen who has wry neck, and the other hen is still fine over a month later). The second, a roo in one of the nesting boxes (plastic dish pans with AstroTurf bottoms at the time) upside down. The third, a hen that just looked like she was asleep. All 3 of these birds passed within 2 weeks of each other, but all were hatched at the same time and were from shipped eggs from the same breeder, so I chalked it up to freak accidents or possible bad genetics. I completely disinfected my coop, just in case, changed my nesting boxes, and didn’t have any other issues for over a month. Then today I lost another roo, this one found sprawled awkwardly in the new nesting boxes with 2 of my hens, but this roo hatched 5 months earlier than the others did, and is not from the same breeder, so now I’m worried.

Their coop is new (8x8’, and there are 15 Silkies in it), so it is not contaminated with anything. There are no bloody droppings in the coop. No sign of mites. None of them had any physical marks on them. I keep 3 other coops of different breed chickens (two Brahma, one Australorp), all of them are fine. I also keep ducks and geese, as well as quail, and they’re all fine; no deaths to date. All are housed separately, but I wear the same boots into all the coops. Aside from 3 of my geese, all of my birds have been hatched here, and I do not allow anyone else who keeps chickens in my coop or runs.
The Silkies get vitamin water, are fed oyster shell free choice, and get around 20% protein (they were getting too thin with less) from a grain mix I buy locally, mixed 50/50 with store bought pelleted type feed. All of my birds except the quail get this feed, mixed to various protein ratios, so I don’t think it’s a feed contamination issue.


Due to no contact procedures the farm vets near me are booked up way fuller than usual and not taking “new” patients (ie. if the bird hasn’t been there before, they won’t see it), so I can’t get through to have a necropsy done. I’m going to keep pestering them regardless, but is there any clues I should be looking for in the meantime? I’m at a complete loss! What could be going on? I’ve only had Silkies for a couple of years, so they are a relatively “new” breed to me, and I know they have a tendency to be finicky, but this doesn’t seem normal...?
Hi, I have noticed your post was in 2021. Hope all your silkies are fine now, and I hope you have found out the reasons of your silkies' sudden death? If so, please do share, it may help other silkie lovers.

I am currently experiencing the same issue, one of my favourite hen dead in August, no reason at all, she was very sweet, used to come to me and let me cuddle, when she was a baby, she was the one climb on top of my shoulder to just sit and rest. I found her body in the run two hours after going out with my son. she was completely fine two hours before. Then this morning, I found another silkie hen was sitting on the floor in the coop, which is strange. then I noticed all chickens left but her, she wasn't moving, she was dead. she was broody a week ago, I just broke her broodyness, she was absolutely fine the night before. eating, drinking normal. I pick up their poop three times a day, all normal, no diarrheal or whatsoever. The only thing that I could assume is they both were murdered by a bantam who is on top of the pecking order, and/or her friend one giant black hen which was gifted from my neighbour, her size is about 5-6 adult silkies. Both dead silkies were show quality, they have a small hump on their head, it was said to be extremely weak there. one vicious peck could cause them losing life.
Back in August, I had no camera in the run. So I couldn't figure out why and how. I then installed camera, I notice the two giants often bully my silkies. But the one dead last night, I couldn't see anything from camera, because they were all inside coop, I lock them up in the night. There's no injury, no blood in the coop, so i come up with my assumption, she was murdered by one peck from the other giant hens. I now have the thoughts of getting rid of the two giants, they were not laying since summer. I honestly don't mind it, and I consider it's normal for the small ones to be pecked so to keep their position on the pecking order, as long as no one is killed, that's fine. But now, I start to worry, it might be wrong to mix silkies with other breed.

All the best to silkie lovers.
Irene
 

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