Sudden death of a few of my girl!

[californiachick74]

Good morning fellow BYC friends! This post is in hopes that one of you may be able to solve the mystery that is happening here with my hens. About a month and a half ago I went out to let my girls out from there coup and I found one of them dead. Was NOT a predatory death. This hen had no signs of being ill either. I pay close attention to the overall health of my girls

I cleaned the coup and disinfected it after finding her dead. Then last week I found another one dead. Again no signs of being ill and wasn't a predatory issue. I again disinfected the coup. Well, yesterday I went out to release them again and yet another. Exact same thing. I'd like to mention that the 3 birds that died were of the same breed. All were Road Island Reds. I've got 3 Buff's left, 2 Americanas, and 1 white leghorn left. Does anyone have any idea what may be happening? Oh and I do not think that they were all egg bound. They had no signs of that. From what I have researched I would have noticed them trying very hard to leg an egg, be distressed, panting, etc. Never say any of that. I look forward to your posts and I do hope someone out there can help me solve this mystery of what's killing my girls before its too late and I lose them all

 

[flashover1969]

First off, I am very sorry for your loss.

I would send the corpse of your bird to a lab for a necropsy. There should be several in So Cal that will do it for free, but I could be wrong.

My first thought, is that you have a toxic plant or something else in your yard that the chickens are sampling.


Check out this post.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=167630

 

[californiachick74]

Thanks for the info! I may have to do that IF another one dies. I do not believe its something in the yard. I have a specific area that they roam free in that I believe to be hazard free...but I could be wrong. I'll double check to make sure. I do wish I could have received more responses

 

[klmclain1]

I think sometimes posts get lost under other posts... this will bump you back up. Are you SURE there were no signs? Example, I've had three girls get sick. None were showing OBVIOUS signs... just lethargy and the expulsion of stringy, cooked looking yolk strands. The first one, I got to the vet and he gave her penicillin based on some research I had done. The second one (two weeks later) showed signs of lethargy on Friday afternoon - no vet over the weekend, she died that Sunday. Two weeks later - the third one. Again, lethargy was the only symptom. By that time I had ordered penicillin online, had syringes on hand, and had had the vet instruct me on giving the injections (when I took the first one in). She bounced back after 4 days of injections. I still have no idea what they had...and it's now been a few weeks with no additional ill hens.

Good luck.. and sorry for your losses. I was shocked at how difficult it was when I lost the one girl.