Sudden Death Of 10 Chickens And 2 Duck

[CoyoteMagic]

I wondering about lightening too. It's got to be something environmental if they are all eating the same food. Mushrooms?

 

[Kim65]

If there is a dead decomposing animal nearby, that's a good source of botulism. Do they drink from a pond or pool? A decomposing animal near a pond will contaminate the run off and cause botulism. I don't know about ducks, but chickens will pick at a corpse.

 

[SeaHen]

Botulism wouldn't cause death so quickly and you would have noticed progressive neurological symptoms. I had a drake with botulism, and his buddy, who was like his Siamese twin, was unaffected. This definitely sounds like some type of poison since it killed so many birds so fast. A few years ago I had two 4-week old goslings that I was raising with ducklings the same age. I put them all to bed one night and found the goslings dead when I opened the crate the next morning. The ducklings were all fine. The experts I consulted could only agree that it must have been a toxin they ingested, but we had no idea what that might have been and have never figured it out. I'm sorry for your loss and wish you luck in solving the mystery.

 

[anotherrebecca]

We have gotten of the food and are heading to TSC to return it and have it tested ... we still have 8 total chickens (a few were running around that I had not originally counted plus our pea hen) and I found our male peacock this morning in our pine tree. We have one chicken that cannot walk that we are going to try the Epsom salt flush on. He is a rooster so if makes it, he might be the king of the flock ... what a long day. Thanks guys!

5 dogs, 5 cats, 4 horses, 4 doves, 3 goats, 2 ponies, 1 llama, 1 sheep and a partridge in a pear tree!

 

[anotherrebecca]

Another quick question: there is one chicken who survived who seems like he is paralyzed from the waist down. Any thoughts?

 

[chinamom3]

I am so sorry about your birds!
Hope these suggestions might help you in your search for answers...
Try a google search for "Merck Veterinary Manual." Once there you can search 'botulism' as well as other subjects. Also try poultryhelp.com. They list plants toxic to poultry, although it looks to me to be incomplete. For example, velvet plant is toxic to chickens and that is not on the list. Has that come out in your area yet? Looks like it is in some areas of Michigan. Also search for "University of Michigan Poultry U", that has lots of good info specific to your area. If you have a blacklight, you can bring shine it on the bag of feed you are using. Glowing areas are potentially nasty toxins in the feed. Hope you can find an answer! Take care....

 

[babsbag]

Please let us know if you figure this out. This is like a chicken owner's (actuallay any animal) worst nightmare. I hope the rest make it through this. I think if they were mine they would be done free ranging for awhile. You don't have any neighbors that don't like your chickens do you? Do you have a state lab that will do a necropsy for you? That is one of the few things that we can get in California for free, and I have used them more than once (unfortunatley).

for the rest of your flock.

What was the brand of food? I get mine at TSC as well. I might change for a while.

 

[redhen]

Could a dog have gotten to them?

 

[anotherrebecca]

I was using Dumoor performance but switched over to Purnia for the time being. We are moving our 8 chickens that are left (and seem to be healthy) to a new location on Monday and will not let them free range for a while. My husband thought it migh have been a predotor because 10 of our smallest chicks are unaccounted for. But it still does not explain the dead ones versus the live ones. We will try the black light and TSC has a Dumoor rep calling me on Monday to get batch numbers. Because the ducks are gone also, the only thing these guys had in common was their food.

Because we thought it might have been something viral, my husband destroyed all of them but I have the one in my mud room that is eating and drinking but it's one leg does not seem to support it. I don't know if the two or connected. If it was running away from something it might have hurt itself.

We used to let them free range in a small pasture when our horses were out so they were protected from anything overhead. In the future, when we do let them out, that is how we will do it. It get pretty frustrating, last week they were all togeter drinking out of the duck's pool and jumping in and out of the sprinkler ... I don't always like life in the country (I am a city girl and trying to get the hange of this)

Thanks again, this is a great resource and Ill use it in the future as we build up our flock. Right now we are just letting the ladies settle. I am planting a garden to feed fresh veggies to them in the future!

 

[ultasol]

I was also wondering if it could be a dog.