Sudden Chicken Death Syndrome?

[Faraday40]

we've recently replaced our flock that was taken by a fox at the end of last year... we have 8 mixed breeds all no more then 25 weeks... our little speckeldy was one of our first layers but Friday morning she looked a little dodgy.. had a fair bit of discharge from her rear end and went very slow moving. we were all set to create a back room hospital for her as we have had to do for previous sickly birds but when we went to fetch her out Saturday morning and shed already passed away.

so distressing... were sitting here thinking we could have got her home quicker but unsure if this would have just caused her more stress

ive tried to look these symptoms up but cant find anything... wonder if it was egg related. we had a Warren brown that was an ex-batt who although an excellent layer got all dodgy and slow with similar discharge... and after a week in the warm backroom hospital and plenty of tasty porridge managed to pass a crumpled egg and was totally fine afterwards ...

finding the short amount of time between noticing something was wrong and the death really upsetting...

Anybody have any thoughts ?

I'm sorry for your loss & sad that this thread is so popular. All we can do is our best & keep an eye out for the remainder of the flock.

Because of the young age, it's possible that your pullet was having an egg issues. The messy vent could mean lots of things.
Things to research: vent gleet, ascites, egg yolk peritonitis, egg bound, & even an overload of worms.
If she had mucous or blood in her poop, look up cocci.

 

[seagirl]

i have been incubating eggs for a few months now thanks to an incubator as a mothers day gift. all has been going very well at every hatch, until this one. 9 out of 11 eggs hatched and at about one week we lost 2 chicks and now every couple of days we lose another. we are down to only 3!
no idea what could be going on, no predators as they are in a brooder in the garage, properly lit and well fed and watered!

 

[Faraday40]

i have been incubating eggs for a few months now thanks to an incubator as a mothers day gift. all has been going very well at every hatch, until this one. 9 out of 11 eggs hatched and at about one week we lost 2 chicks and now every couple of days we lose another. we are down to only 3!
no idea what could be going on, no predators as they are in a brooder in the garage, properly lit and well fed and watered!

In chicks the most common lethal illness is cocci. If one gets it, they all get it. The main early symptom is loose stools with blood &/or mucous. Later the chicks may look hunched up, lethargic, & not wanting to eat/drink. Sadly, in some cases it only takes a few hours to go from symptoms to death. The good news is that it's treatable. "Corid" can be picked up at any farm store & may also be sold at your feed store. It's sold online too, but if you suspect cocci, getting it into them ASAP could make a big difference. Try looking up "cocci" & see if the symptoms match what you're seeing. I've hatched hundreds of chicks & keep Corid on hand in my chicken 1st aid kit. The one time I suspect we had it, I never saw bloody poop & none died. They just seemed off & had a little diarrhea. But, I put it in the waterer as a precaution & all the chicks improved by the next day.

Check the brooder temp. If they crowding away or right in front of the heat source, an adjustment may be in order. I've heard of other fatal things like chicks eating shavings causing crop impaction, drowning in their waterers. or even genetic issues, but with several chicks dying it sounds more like an infection.

 

[gimmie birdies]

JUst hatched 7/7 almost 2 weeks ago, everyone running about no pasty butt nothing. I change waters every day, give electrolites in water, I gave them yoke water by hand the first week, change bedding every day too. yesterday, every one was great, today I found my one and only SFH the one to the far left

Passed away. I had been having a hard time getting the SFH to the hatching stage, I think the lady's rooster may be old. still it is sad.

 

[Fletch83]

I'm glad I found this thread. My red star hen died extremely suddenly today with no symptoms whatsoever. She had been laying well and was very energetic this morning. My mother had gone by the house to let them out to free range this afternoon, and she said the hen was happily running around the yard free-ranging. My mother was doing some yard work, so she was out there keeping an eye on the chickens and with them the entire time. One moment the hen was fine, the next moment she was lying still on her side in the yard. My mother picked her up, she squawked a bit, and was gone minutes later. I am so puzzled. She was really young still, only 8 months old, and had absolutely no symptoms of anything being wrong. She was a happy hen with a lot of energy who was laying very well. She was the sweetest out of the flock too. She is only the second hen who has died on me, but I have a small flock so the loss is a little more acute. I honestly cannot even think of what could have been wrong.

 

[luukasama]

With so many deaths in my flocks, I honestly stopped looking at the symptoms for diseases because nothing I do ever seems to work. One of our grown up Light Brahma's is now sick. I have quarantined her, but she will not eat or drink. Eyes always closed; constantly sleeps and when I take her out to manually force her to drink and eat, she does not open her eyes. It's so depressing. I have to rub her tail feathers or gently prod her, or blow on her back in order to elicit a response where she does the pecking motion with her beak in the air, but because her eyes are closed she misses - thus necessesitating me shoving her bowl into her face, quite literally.

I gave her extra doses of Corid, as well as extra doses of Tylan in her water. I overdosed the feed with vitamins in case this was some kind of a lack of nutrients, but I feel I can only do so much to make her eat. I feel she would waste away if I don't bother doing all of this, as she will not eat or drink. I don't understand why, even with research. At this point, I'm wondering if all I am doing is just prolonging her suffering.

I have to ask you guys, at what point do you decide to cull or keep trying until they really let go? I want to do all I can, but at he same time, if it's her time to go (not even a year old), am I just prolonging her suffering? I am really at a loss here, I just don't know what to do.

 

[Natty1987]

I've lost 1 of our lovely hens this morning I was with her when she had a fit then just died, she had been absolutely fine & at point of lay, was heartbreaking to witness, just glad it was quick.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

I'm glad I found this thread. My red star hen died extremely suddenly today with no symptoms whatsoever. She had been laying well and was very energetic this morning. My mother had gone by the house to let them out to free range this afternoon, and she said the hen was happily running around the yard free-ranging. My mother was doing some yard work, so she was out there keeping an eye on the chickens and with them the entire time. One moment the hen was fine, the next moment she was lying still on her side in the yard. My mother picked her up, she squawked a bit, and was gone minutes later. I am so puzzled. She was really young still, only 8 months old, and had absolutely no symptoms of anything being wrong. She was a happy hen with a lot of energy who was laying very well. She was the sweetest out of the flock too. She is only the second hen who has died on me, but I have a small flock so the loss is a little more acute. I honestly cannot even think of what could have been wrong.

I learned after a similar experience that fatty liver and liver fracture is very common in healthy, robust young hens. The fracture causes catastrophic hemmorrhage and they die almost instantly.

 

[SVTechChick]

I'm so sad to be joining this group with the loss of Geraldine, our Easter Egger. She was fine and dandy two nights ago, and she apparently died in her sleep last night, head tucked under her wing, in the coop. She was an absolute stunningly beautiful bird, and the 'Top Chick' in our little flock. I'm going to miss her and her beautiful eggs.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

I'm so sad to be joining this group with the loss of Geraldine, our Easter Egger. She was fine and dandy two nights ago, and she apparently died in her sleep last night, head tucked under her wing, in the coop. She was an absolute stunningly beautiful bird, and the 'Top Chick' in our little flock. I'm going to miss her and her beautiful eggs.

That stinks, but it sounds like she died peacefully. How old was she?