Sudden chicken death

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what would cause the salmonella in the chickens! we too have lost 2 chickens in a months time. the first one, Delores was just stiff and gone in the corner of the coop when we went to fed in then morning and then today, our blue andoulosian (sp) , Velma, was fine at 2:30 and by 6:30 she was gone and stiff. She had a beautiful red large comb and it had lost all color when we found her. Why was that? I am so sad:(
 
We lost 2 very healthy young (9 months) laying hens within 12 hours- one I found at 4 PM and the other the next ,morning.
Both had been in top health, seemingly. They had ranged onto the neighbors and I fear ate something poison there, (Chem lawn type neighbor) alas. The remaining ones are OK so far, but no longer allowed to FR.
2 in 12 hours would indicate poison?
No symptoms until the dead birds appeared.
 
I just lost my Black Australorp rooster.... he was only 8 months old; no apparent cause. My 3 hens seem fine.
 
I have (had) a very small flock of three chickens, all different breeds, all getting along well and laying beautifully. Yesterday it was my buff orpington's day to lay an egg (I keep a chart and have observed each chicken has a laying pattern so I can pretty much predict who will lay an egg on which day). Anyway, Buffy was healthy in the AM when I opened the coop and on schedule, she went in and sat in her nest so I was expecting an egg within the hour. I went back out and she was still sitting there but obviously ill - limp and breathing through her mouth and not producing the expected egg. Within minutes she was dead. My first thought was maybe she was egg bound and had an egg stuck and was pushing hard enough to give herself a heart attack but a friend with a huge flock said that when he had egg bound chickens, they were miserable for days and it was never a sudden death.
My other two chickens seem fine ( an araucana and a rhode island red) and this weekend my friend is going to give me an ameraucana to bring the flock back up to three. Two chickens seem very lonely out there. However, I'd be interested in hearing what any of you think might have happened to buffy. All my chickens are about 10-11 months old as I got them as one day old chicks last May.
Thanks for your input
JBD
 
I'm in San Diego. I have (had) 13 hens and one rooster. I just lost my second hen to unknown causes. The birds all seem healthy and active, can it be over feeding? I left for three days five days ago and for the first time ever I put out a large quantity of feed. These chickens usually get out into a large yard every day.
I came back to find one dead in the coop. The rest of the flock seemed fine. Still a huge amount of Lay pellets in the feeder, plenty of water. I put them up last night and all seemed fine especially my favorite little mixed breed that hops up on to my shoulder to ride to the coop in the afternoon. She was dead this morning.
That's two in a couple of days and I'm worried now that I'll lose the rest.
Update: Two more losses over the next week. I took the last to a specialist Vet. He told me it wasn't Bird Flu or Newcastle. Not a parasite or respiratory infection.
He advised sending it off for a full necropsy. ($400, out of the question, sorry) It's been a month or so with no more deaths. I switched to organic feed, probably no connection.
 
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Could this sudden death in chickens be cause by the chicken feed? I know the farmers in my area start spraying corn and soybean fields with herbicides. then plant and spray fertilizers. Later they spray pesticides and maybe herbicides again and even throw more fertilizers on the fields. I've heard that some feed mills add arsenic to chicken feed and if enough arsenic is ingested it will result in death.
 
Here in CT, the University of CT does necropsies for free in order to monitor Avian Flu. Maybe you can try your area college that has an ag program.
 
JimL said:
I'm in San Diego. I have (had) 13 hens and one rooster. I just lost my second hen to unknown causes. The birds all seem healthy and active, can it be over feeding? I left for three days five days ago and for the first time ever I put out a large quantity of feed. These chickens usually get out into a large yard every day.
I came back to find one dead in the coop. The rest of the flock seemed fine. Still a huge amount of Lay pellets in the feeder, plenty of water. I put them up last night and all seemed fine especially my favorite little mixed breed that hops up on to my shoulder to ride to the coop in the afternoon. She was dead this morning.
That's two in a couple of days and I'm worried now that I'll lose the rest.
Update: Two more losses over the next week. I took the last to a specialist Vet. He told me it wasn't Bird Flu or Newcastle. Not a parasite or respiratory infection.
He advised sending it off for a full necropsy. ($400, out of the question, sorry) It's been a month or so with no more deaths. I switched to organic feed, probably no connection.
Click to expand...
I know this post is old, but necropsies are free in California.
http://www.cahfs.ucdavis.edu/

-Kathy
 

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