Sudden death of two pullets

[prplehailstorm]

Advice on sudden death of pullets

Today we had two chickens suddenly pass away. We have a small flock so that is pretty devastating. They were about 7 months old. Laying for a few months. We live in California so our area is not only experiencing a heat wave but the air quality is horrible from the fires and we assume this is what did our ladies in despite our best efforts to keep them cool. however, I did have other concerns.

Around a month and a half ago we got two 10 week old chicks. We did the quarantine. When we put them together I was told to put the whole flock on grower feed because it wouldn’t hurt the older girls and the younger ones weren’t ready for layer feed. After that the older girls all but stopped laying. We have our Easter Eggers stop laying completely, one girl’s eggs changed from brown to cream colored, and only every other day we would get one normal egg. We had 5 layers and averaged 1-2 eggs a day. After the bag of grower feed was done and the young ones being about 15-16 weeks of age I decided to switch back to layer to try and get my girls back on track.

I guess I’m just wondering if I did everything right. Was there an error that I could have made that caused them to die? Maybe switching the food wasn’t healthy for the older ones? Any advice would be great. We plan on bringing all the girls in tomorrow but I want to cover my bases in case there is a possibility of giving the wrong food or maybe a disease or maybe other common cause this could be.

 

[Weeg]

Could the food have been moldy? Or did you leave any string in the run? The best way to tell is to do an autopsy.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Agree that moldy feed could do it.
Try getting a rubbermaid-type tote with a lid, fill that with water, add block ice (an old milk jug frozen nightly will do) and put that ice, jug and all into the rubbermaid tote. Put lid on if you have younger birds as they tend to be too curious, or leave it without a lid if your flock is full grown. Place the ice-water tote in an area of their run that gets deep shade.
Your birds will snuggle up to the tote to cool off, and if you have it without the lid on it, they may even drink the ice cold water. I've had birds even get into the tote, but that's rare, and it's a hazard for younger birds that aren't strong enough to jump out.

 

[prplehailstorm]

Could the food have been moldy? Or did you leave any string in the run? The best way to tell is to do an autopsy.

I don’t see any kind of mold in the food. I will dump out and refill just to be sure.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Moldy feed often appears powdery, moreso than usual. The texture in your hands will feel more baby-powdery, less gritty than normal, and will often have 'clumps' in it. The aroma of slightly moldy feed will have a light mustiness, the fragrance becoming more pronounced when more mold is present.

 

[prplehailstorm]

Moldy feed often appears powdery, moreso than usual. The texture in your hands will feel more baby-powdery, less gritty than normal, and will often have 'clumps' in it. The aroma of slightly moldy feed will have a light mustiness, the fragrance becoming more pronounced when more mold is present.

It doesn’t look as you described. I will take a closer look and clean everything out tomorrow before letting the girls out to be safe.

 

[Weeg]

We had a rat get into the self a the top of our coop ounce were we keep the feed, and it made a nest. It then got into the feed and there were noticeable moldy chunks when we found it. But the rat spilled moly feed on the ground when he was living up there, and one of our hens mrs tof ate it, because she was clucking and foraging one moment and then she just flopped on the ground dead! This was a while ago but must have been mold.