Terrible, awful day. Almost all of my chickens dead. ***Update***

[emvickrey]

First of all, I am so sorry your babies are gone. I can just imagine how devastating it was. As I was reading I was thinking of all my birds in this position. It would be horrible.

Second, could it be possible that they may have been in the run when crops nearby where being sprayed? If so it would make sense that they would go into the coop to get away from the smell and died there. We live by a road and most of my birds are on that side of our house. From time to time the county will spray weed killer on the hill beside the road and my birds are just on top of the hill. Luckily there are no weeds when our property starts and they stop spraying so mine are safe from it. But it makes sense. With the high temperatures and getting exposed to chemicals their lungs can't handle will kill a bird very fast.

If you find it's the feed, maybe you can contact the company that made it and send them a copy of the report that states it was the feed along with a bill for the cost of all the birds you lost. It won't bring them back but it may make them be more aware of what they're making.

If it was possibly the weed killer you can call the county to find out if they where in your area that day. If so you can take out your sadness on them. Or the farmer if there is land that was sprayed. They will think twice before they spray again and possibly notify people so they can put up their animals.

Again, I am so sorry

 

[UC Student]

http://tvmdl.tamu.edu/testinf.php?unit=1665

The University here in Davis has a program where you can send in birds for free but I can't find the same thing near you. This doesn't look too expensive though and could be really helpful.

 

[aShMaNv]

Sorry for your loss

 

[emvickrey]

You can all your local vetrinarian and ask them. They will know.

 

[MoriahQuilts]

Tears and prayers for you! So sorry.

 

[pinkwindsong]

how horrible. I feel for you.. please keep us in the know .. of what you find to be the cause..

Hugs and healing energy your way.)O(
Pink

 

[goldfinches]

It's so hard to lose a pet, I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I hope you figure out why it happened so you can save the rest of them. Glad you're paying such close attention to them and keeping them away from the food.

 

[CupOJoe42]

So sorry to hear about your loss. I have heard about swarming flies or gnats taking out entire flocks. Could that have been the problem? I'm chicken and chick-sitting for friends and it's so hard to read posts about illness and injuries because they are more "real" to me now that I can hold them every day and see their little personalities emerging.

 

[stilldeb]

So very, very sorry for your devastating loss. I had something happen years ago in dog food that killed two of my prize show dogs. There was lead in the food. The company admitted that the rail car the feed had been shipped in had contaminated the food and settled with me, but of course, could not replace my dogs that died from lead poisoning. The only way to detect lead is in the hair/feathers. I would suspect pesticide, though. That was very fast.

Also, do you live in an area that is cropdusted? We were cropdusted last year before we got chickens and I was furious because they oversprayed on my 17 year old toothless dog and his water and food as I was running outside trying to get him in and the windows were open and I was just frantic.

Just a couple thoughts.

deb g

 

[Abirdbrain]

Welcome to chickendom. For all the work and the y joys of seeing these birds antics and relations, there is the terrible downside of the death and focus of survival nature that target the birds for predation, or table meat.

After we started this new flock after my having quit birds altogether 15 years ago, the first losses were devastating. I remembered why I quit. Well , rose and I have about 50 birds left now, having culled a coupla cripples. We have lost 10 to predation, fox,coyote or Hawk, we dont know which..

I dont have a very good mindset to things being taken from me. My house got flooded by an Idiot child that blocked a culvert, just yesterday. Compounded by a power outage of three hours, the sump pump was offline, allowing 3 inchs of water into my lower level. My land flooded and I had chickens wading in inches of water, and fairly unhappy.

It is hard not to feel responsible when predation occurs, or an unseen circumstance damages your situation. If you didn't care, it wouldn't hurt. By that gauge, I have some miserable times.