sudden deaths??

[WarrenHound]

i have some young birds about fully feathered out and i feed them twice a day and they have a water bucket that is always full.
i wormed them recently to play it safe BUT the past few days they have been dropping dead...

went outside and i had plymouth on the ground barely alive couldnt lift its head could only flap its wings uselessly .

another had been suffering and lost a great deal of weight so i brought her in and wormed her and hand fed put her outside and she died 2 days later same thing as the previous bird.

all of these birds were given shots against marecks (if i spelled it right)
the weather has been consistent at 80-98 degrees
they are fed chick start twice a day in a coffee can sized pale...and it is put in a bowl they can easily reach i have added scraps of meat and bread as well as oranges to their diet but only weekly this week they have gotten more...cucumber, tomato and meat as i am worried about their health.

the deaths seem to make no sense...its warm they are protected from the elements they have plenty of food and water and the poop is worm free....no lice or mites evident...

any ideas??? how to cure whatever this is or top it from happening??

none are getting wet just an FYI

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Oh no! How tragic! This must be very upsetting. I hope someone more experienced than I am will see this and offer you some help.

A few more questions: How old are the birds? Do they free-range or confined to a coop/run where you have complete control of what they eat? Is the meat your are feeding them raw or cooked? Could they possibly be getting at anything poisonous or spoiled? How clean and fresh and cool is their water (they will stop drinking if their water gets too warm).

Here is a link to a BYC article about appropriate treats for chickens ... note that it advises against citrus fruits (as do other sources):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens


I don't have a lot of experience with sick chickens (yet?), but chickens really only need age-appropriate poultry ration and very limited treats (and not all treats are healthy for chickens). Access to forage and bugs is fine.

Also, when I spoke with the poultry specialist at my extension service he recommended against worming birds "just in case" because of the way the resistance works.

One thing that might help your sick birds to perk up is some kind of supplement in their drinking water. There is a lot of information here about electrolytes and stuff.

I hope you get this figured out.

 

[Judy]

What did you worm them with? If they are somewhere around 20 weeks, it's a little younger than I've seen deworming recommended. They might be having trouble with swallowing the people food, too. If you're sure they have enough shade and breeze against the heat, I'd probably check their crops early in the morning before they eat.

You mentioned they are not getting wet. Actually, misting is one of the things people do as a way to help them cope with the heat. Chickens have real trouble dealing with summer heat, especially in the South, and every year people lose chickens just to the heat -- just in case you're not aware. I run a fan all summer, even though the coop is quite open air and gets a good cross breeze. I also hose it down, and hose down the hot dry ground, on rough days.

The one who had lost a lot of wieght may have simply had some internal problem that no one could have fixed.

I hope you get this sorted out.

 

[WarrenHound]

they are 2 months old dewormed with[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] ivermectin.[/FONT]
meat is cooked no spices ect and i dont give much.
not spoiled only fresh and water is changed twice daily or more if necessary.
they are in a pen that is large enough for adult birds but is no longer used for them i wanted them safe from hawks so the quarantine coop it is.

i will look into the heat thing, the area i have them is usually around 80-90 tops (i just put in the general outside temp earlier)