Two young hens dead within a week - no idea what's happening

[flashlight]

I've had a flock of twelve since July 2022 when I got them all as chicks. Everyone was healthy and happy all this time until last Friday when I lost my first girl, an Easter Egger, unexpectedly. I came home from work and she was lying dead in the run like she'd just fallen over. I looked her body over and did not see any signs of injury or egg problems. Today, exactly a week later, I found a second hen, a New Hampshire Red, dead in the coop. I am not sure what time it happened and she may have fallen off the roosting bar last night because that's the area where I found her. I normally check everyone quickly in the morning, but when I opened the coop today, it was still so dark and I didn't do a headcount because I was in such a hurry. I regret that so much now since maybe I could have helped her or at least found and removed her sooner.

I am so distraught tonight and VERY worried. Neither chicken showed signs of illness. The one who died today, I was just petting and talking to last night. She looked healthy and normal. I am very worried that there is a mystery disease spreading or that they are eating/drinking something that is killing them. Most of my chickens are currently molting, but I don't feel that this is related. I am going to scrub their water and food buckets in the morning, but I don't think this is doing it either. My husband mentioned that he has noticed an increase in mushrooms in the yard and around the edges of our property, so that is my main worry now, and I will need to destroy the ones I can find this weekend and keep the rest of the girls out of the yard. But I am so worried about losing more of my chickens.

I am in eastern NC if anyone else around this area is experiencing something like this. Of course, we are getting a pretty bad tropical storm today and tomorrow and that is not helping the situation. We have a necropsy lab not too far from us, but since it's Friday, I don't know if we can keep her body until Monday. This is so upsetting.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

I've had a flock of twelve since July 2022 when I got them all as chicks. Everyone was healthy and happy all this time until last Friday when I lost my first girl, an Easter Egger, unexpectedly. I came home from work and she was lying dead in the run like she'd just fallen over. I looked her body over and did not see any signs of injury or egg problems. Today, exactly a week later, I found a second hen, a New Hampshire Red, dead in the coop. I am not sure what time it happened and she may have fallen off the roosting bar last night because that's the area where I found her. I normally check everyone quickly in the morning, but when I opened the coop today, it was still so dark and I didn't do a headcount because I was in such a hurry. I regret that so much now since maybe I could have helped her or at least found and removed her sooner.

I am so distraught tonight and VERY worried. Neither chicken showed signs of illness. The one who died today, I was just petting and talking to last night. She looked healthy and normal. I am very worried that there is a mystery disease spreading or that they are eating/drinking something that is killing them. Most of my chickens are currently molting, but I don't feel that this is related. I am going to scrub their water and food buckets in the morning, but I don't think this is doing it either. My husband mentioned that he has noticed an increase in mushrooms in the yard and around the edges of our property, so that is my main worry now, and I will need to destroy the ones I can find this weekend and keep the rest of the girls out of the yard. But I am so worried about losing more of my chickens.

I am in eastern NC if anyone else around this area is experiencing something like this. Of course, we are getting a pretty bad tropical storm today and tomorrow and that is not helping the situation. We have a necropsy lab not too far from us, but since it's Friday, I don't know if we can keep her body until Monday. This is so upsetting.

Oh no I’m so sorry! I have heard mushrooms could be bad! I’ll tag some people to see if they can help @fluffycrow @Eggcessive

 

[fluffycrow]

I do not think it was the mushrooms, chickens would usually avoid them, but I have no personal experience. Another much more experienced member has been @ ed, they'll give much better advice. Have you checked your birds for any parasites (mites, lice...)? How do their poops look?

 

[Eggcessive]

If you have one of the bodies I would keep it cold in a cooler on ice or wrap it in garbage bags in the refrigerator, and try to contact your state vet for a necropsy. That is the best way to get a diagnosis. It can be common to lose a young hen at that age, but suspicious to lose two so close. Sorry for your loss. Look around for moldy feed in your container, a toxic plant, or some type of poison.

 

[flashlight]

If you have one of the bodies I would keep it cold in a cooler on ice or wrap it in garbage bags in the refrigerator, and try to contact your state vet for a necropsy. That is the best way to get a diagnosis. It can be common to lose a young hen at that age, but suspicious to lose two so close. Sorry for your loss. Look around for moldy feed in your container, a toxic plant, or some type of poison.

Unfortunately after checking, it looks like the local state lab that did necropsies in this region closed down years ago. I don't know why they're still showing up in search results. So I probably won't be able to get it done. I may call a couple of veterinarians tomorrow, but none of them around here even see chickens and I doubt they'll do a necropsy.

I am going to give everything a thorough cleaning tomorrow. I don't know what else could be going on unless, like I said, they got into some bad mushrooms or other toxic plant.

 

[flashlight]

I do not think it was the mushrooms, chickens would usually avoid them, but I have no personal experience. Another much more experienced member has been @ ed, they'll give much better advice. Have you checked your birds for any parasites (mites, lice...)? How do their poops look?

I have not noticed any unusual poop lately. Everyone seemed to be doing fine until this happened. Several of them are molting, but that is the only thing I've noticed. I did a lice check recently when I noticed the molt starting because a couple of them were lethargic at that time. Nothing unusual showed up.

We had an extremely hot and humid summer here. There were times I thought a couple of them would not survive it, and the one who died today was one of those. However, that was over two months ago. She laid a broken soft egg during that heatwave and I had to give her antibiotics and she was fine after a couple of days. No problems since then. I suppose it's possible something resulted from that incident?

 

[Kiki]

Unfortunately after checking, it looks like the local state lab that did necropsies in this region closed down years ago. I don't know why they're still showing up in search results. So I probably won't be able to get it done. I may call a couple of veterinarians tomorrow, but none of them around here even see chickens and I doubt they'll do a necropsy.

I am going to give everything a thorough cleaning tomorrow. I don't know what else could be going on unless, like I said, they got into some bad mushrooms or other toxic plant.

There are two state labs in the state that are not closed.

https://www.ncagr.gov/vet/ncvdl/

Fatty liver disease is one thing that kills without any signs or symptoms.

Did you feed any treats at all? If so what and how much/often?

 

[Kiki]

I have not noticed any unusual poop lately. Everyone seemed to be doing fine until this happened. Several of them are molting, but that is the only thing I've noticed. I did a lice check recently when I noticed the molt starting because a couple of them were lethargic at that time. Nothing unusual showed up.

We had an extremely hot and humid summer here. There were times I thought a couple of them would not survive it, and the one who died today was one of those. However, that was over two months ago. She laid a broken soft egg during that heatwave and I had to give her antibiotics and she was fine after a couple of days. No problems since then. I suppose it's possible something resulted from that incident?

Laying a soft egg is a big sign that there is a diet issue or an infection issue or both.

What antibiotic did you give, how much eat time and for how many days?

 

[flashlight]

Laying a soft egg is a big sign that there is a diet issue or an infection issue or both.

What antibiotic did you give, how much eat time and for how many days?

This happened on July 22. We had gone through several days of terrible heat. I saw her standing still in the yard one evening and went to check on her. The contents of the soft egg were falling out in pieces. I bathed her, isolated her, and called around for help. The only antibiotic I could get was penicillin and I gave it to her in her breast muscles for two weeks. After a few days, she was acting normal again, her poop looked normal, and I never saw any more evidence of laying problems. She started to lay again about a week after the incident.

All of my chickens get Nature's Best Organic Layer Crumble. They also have access to oyster shell. I do give them dried worms in the evenings for a treat and a small amount of scratch grain in the mornings. The rest of the day, they only have their normal feed and water.

If two of them hadn't died so close together, I would have assumed that it was an egg problem with her because she was egg-bound once before that soft egg. She was able to lay the egg after getting a bath that first time. I know that was a problem for her. I just find the timing of it worrying. I scrubbed out their feeders and water buckets this morning. I went around and took pictures of any mushrooms I could find to see if I can identify them, although I know it may not be the mushrooms.

Our entire yard and the chicken run are flooded right now. And we're expected to get eight more hours of rain today. I am not sure how to go about getting her remains Fed Ex'd to the lab, but we're looking into it. We live in a rural area and we're pretty limited when the weather is like this.

 

[Kiki]

This could be part of the problem:

I do give them dried worms in the evenings for a treat and a small amount of scratch grain in the mornings.

Feeding treats daily takes away from the bird getting a balanced diet which causes problems.
I'd highly recommend you stop feeding treats daily and only feed them once a week and then only feed a tiny amount. By tiny amount I mean a spoon full worth, if even that, per bird.