Weird flock issues, is something wrong with my yard?

[newchickenlady7]

I am hoping to get some insight from other chicken owners about my weird flock issues.

I started my flock last September with 10 barred rock chicks and a 6 month old barred rock rooster. I did lose one around 11 weeks expected to be malnourished. At proper age I integrated and they lasted 3-5 days before my rooster started convulsing and had to be put down. No idea what happened to him. He seemed healthy and happy until then.
Fast forward a month I started getting eggs from my girls. All was good until one came up lame. She was isolated and has do be put down due to not moving, look pitiful and pooping yellow poop (not foamy just runny). Less than a month later I got another one with the same yellowish poop and water belly. She too was put down, got too thin. I lost another bird unexpectedly to what I believe was egg bound but I couldn’t help her. Less than a month later I got another bird who was sick. Yellow poop, lethargic, and not eating. She lasted a week before passing on her own. After that I got another bird same symptoms, later got water belly and passed. She was treated for coccidiosis and seemed to respond well until it came back. At the same time I had another bird who started out with light versions of the lethargic and yellow poop but Corid helped, but she seemed to have some sort of respiratory issues (maybe worms I don’t know). VetRX was given along with AVC water. She last a whole month before passing after a cold night, and didn’t recover. I technically have 3 original chickens left, one of which was rehomed, so I have 2 left.

I have 6 new 11-week-old chicks who have been doing great until yesterday I noticed one convulsing in the chicken tractor and having thick saliva in her mouth. She lasted the night but is having a hard time breathing and sounds like the saliva is making it hard to breathe. I feed them medicated feed so I have a hard time believing she has some disease.

I try and take good care of my girls and I choose to use more natural approaches when I can. The yard if sprayed using talstar for mosquitoes and fertilizer is used on the lawn. I always make sure to keep them locked in their coop when the spray is used and they stay out of the grass for 2-3 days after fertilizer is used.

Is something wrong with my yard? I keep a clean coop and the older girls have a run they have access too and free range in a chicken tractor for a few hours very few days. The chicks get out in the chicken tractor for a few hours daily. I live in Michigan in the country with a farm field next to me.

Super rough year but I’d appreciate any feedback or thoughts. Thanks

 

[aart]

The only way to know what killed your birds is to have a few necropsied with labs done.
Everything else is gross speculation.

 

[HollyBerrie]

Do not use fertilizer or insecticide anywhere the chickens are grazing or anywhere near their grazing area. Not natural, and kills more than just mosquitos. Stop the medicated feed. Medicated feed only helps give immunity against coccidia, nothing else.

 

[Iluveggers]

I did not know about the pathway..thanks for that. And I glad to hear your girls have done well for 6 yrs on roundup ready grain. I respectfully disagree with the statement that it is not toxic due to lack of shikimate enzymatic pathway in mammals. There are acute toxic effects due to the surfactant effect while spraying if inhaled leading to respiratory distress (like most chemicals), albeit a low chance of eventual pulmonary fibrosis with repeated exposure..quantity and time. If swallowed or ingested, however, glyphosphate is acutely toxic leading to increased salivation, esophageal inflammation, nausea, vomiting and so on, increasing chance of aspiration pneumonia and possibly drowning in ones own secretions. Personally, if I use glyphosphate I do so early to mid-day to allow proper dry time and do not let my pets or children out to the area for 24 hrs. I avoid evening spraying because, in my climate, we get dew most summer days and that would not allow the product adequate time to dry.

I agree. I will never use roundup or have my animals near it or eating anything that has been sprayed by it. There have been many instances of cancer being linked to Roundup, and my parents who live next to someone who sprays had 2 dead wild birds (robins) on their lawn shortly after the neighbor sprayed. I’ll take the weeds and anything else that goes along with a clean yard.

 

[Iluveggers]

Currently in many states wild song birds including Robins are facing some sort of disease. We could all be quick to point to round up, but even the scientists haven't come to any conclusions.

The amount of lawsuits involved in the billion dollar company is enough to keep me away from it. It took forever to get science to prove cigarettes can cause cancer primarily due to tobacco lobbyists and multi-million dollar industry. Proven or not, I’ll pass. We can agree to disagree.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I am hoping to get some insight from other chicken owners about my weird flock issues.

I started my flock last September with 10 barred rock chicks and a 6 month old barred rock rooster. I did lose one around 11 weeks expected to be malnourished. At proper age I integrated and they lasted 3-5 days before my rooster started convulsing and had to be put down. No idea what happened to him. He seemed healthy and happy until then.
Fast forward a month I started getting eggs from my girls. All was good until one came up lame. She was isolated and has do be put down due to not moving, look pitiful and pooping yellow poop (not foamy just runny). Less than a month later I got another one with the same yellowish poop and water belly. She too was put down, got too thin. I lost another bird unexpectedly to what I believe was egg bound but I couldn’t help her. Less than a month later I got another bird who was sick. Yellow poop, lethargic, and not eating. She lasted a week before passing on her own. After that I got another bird same symptoms, later got water belly and passed. She was treated for coccidiosis and seemed to respond well until it came back. At the same time I had another bird who started out with light versions of the lethargic and yellow poop but Corid helped, but she seemed to have some sort of respiratory issues (maybe worms I don’t know). VetRX was given along with AVC water. She last a whole month before passing after a cold night, and didn’t recover. I technically have 3 original chickens left, one of which was rehomed, so I have 2 left.

I have 6 new 11-week-old chicks who have been doing great until yesterday I noticed one convulsing in the chicken tractor and having thick saliva in her mouth. She lasted the night but is having a hard time breathing and sounds like the saliva is making it hard to breathe. I feed them medicated feed so I have a hard time believing she has some disease.

I try and take good care of my girls and I choose to use more natural approaches when I can. The yard if sprayed using talstar for mosquitoes and fertilizer is used on the lawn. I always make sure to keep them locked in their coop when the spray is used and they stay out of the grass for 2-3 days after fertilizer is used.

Is something wrong with my yard? I keep a clean coop and the older girls have a run they have access too and free range in a chicken tractor for a few hours very few days. The chicks get out in the chicken tractor for a few hours daily. I live in Michigan in the country with a farm field next to me.

Super rough year but I’d appreciate any feedback or thoughts. Thanks

I agree the Fertilizer, & insecticide maybe the cause of your birds deaths.

I'd suggest stop using them, & see if anything changes. If you're still having deaths, then it maybe a disease affecting your birds.

 

[3KillerBs]

Wow this is very eye opening, I had no idea nor every thought that it could hurt them by feeding medicated food.

I will definably consider this with the next chicks I raise. Thanks

The common practice is to buy one bag of medicated chick starter and switch to either unmedicated chick starter or all-flock crumble once that first bag is gone.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

The field sprayer is rinsed out in the same yard as the chickens. Glyphosate is used in the yard and around the coop throughout the year to suppress undesirable plant growth. It's sprayed in the evening once the chickens are roosting and the chickens are released to free-range the next day. The birds have been fed grain from the fields that are sprayed, for 6+ years. There have been no issues as stated.

Glyphosate inhibits the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase. It's a key component of the shikimate pathway. Inhibition of the shikimate pathway blocks aromatic amino acid biosynthesis in plants, resulting in the death of those plants. The shikimate pathway is found only in microorganisms and plants, not in animals. Mammals don't have this pathway. Neither do birds. The spraying you see, the majority is water. The covering of the seed might be exposed to the spray, but not the seed itself. A quick search shows mixing directions as 5 tablespoons in 1 gallon of water. I believe a pop amount sprays a football field. Pesticides are expensive, no one wants to use more than they have to. To give context, alcoholic beverages are classified as a Group 1 carcinogen.

Glyphosphate is patented as an antimicrobial agent, for several families of susceptible organisms that cause grief such as toxoplasmosis.

I did not know about the pathway..thanks for that. And I glad to hear your girls have done well for 6 yrs on roundup ready grain. I respectfully disagree with the statement that it is not toxic due to lack of shikimate enzymatic pathway in mammals. There are acute toxic effects due to the surfactant effect while spraying if inhaled leading to respiratory distress (like most chemicals), albeit a low chance of eventual pulmonary fibrosis with repeated exposure..quantity and time. If swallowed or ingested, however, glyphosphate is acutely toxic leading to increased salivation, esophageal inflammation, nausea, vomiting and so on, increasing chance of aspiration pneumonia and possibly drowning in ones own secretions. Personally, if I use glyphosphate I do so early to mid-day to allow proper dry time and do not let my pets or children out to the area for 24 hrs. I avoid evening spraying because, in my climate, we get dew most summer days and that would not allow the product adequate time to dry.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Chickens are natural fertilizing machines, by the way. They poop alot.

 

[MysteryChicken]

You would guess, they have a palace at my place. We’ve considered testing our soil thinking it may be the issues but we are stumped as to what’s going on. Their run attached is all dirt. They are only let out in the grass using a chicken tractor (we too many large birds and coyotes due to the number of deer in the area) so I don’t believe a plant could be the issue.

Testing your soil would be a good idea, it should tell you about harmful chemicals, from the Crop Dusting.

It may also tell you about other potentially toxic substances in your soil.