Whole flock gone

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

He might be right that it was something about the new foods, but it probably wasn't excess protein.

Black oil sunflower seeds have protein ranging from 13% to 16% depending on where I look. That may be too low to be healthy for chickens, but it certainly is not too high.

I saw a post on a local FB group this week about a person who lost her Polish suddenly. Her vet said it was because she was overfeeding high-fat foods in particular - sunflower seeds, which caused the kidney (I think it was) to swell and then with the pressure of laying an egg, it burst (she discovered her hen in the nest box). I doubt the OPs birds were all laying eggs at that moment, but I'm curious if maybe fat, as opposed to protein, could have played a role?

 

[PenelopeJane]

I saw a post on a local FB group this week about a person who lost her Polish suddenly. Her vet said it was because she was overfeeding high-fat foods in particular - sunflower seeds, which caused the kidney (I think it was) to swell and then with the pressure of laying an egg, it burst (she discovered her hen in the nest box). I doubt the OPs birds were all laying eggs at that moment, but I'm curious if maybe fat, as opposed to protein, could have played a role?

Thank you for posting this. As a new chicken owner, less than a year, I will need to re-think my feeding of my girls.

 

[NatJ]

I doubt the OPs birds were all laying eggs at that moment, but I'm curious if maybe fat, as opposed to protein, could have played a role?

Given that they all died within a few hours of each other, I think probably not in this case.

But in general yes, I would wonder about the fat as well, depending on how many sunflower seeds they were getting.

 

[McChooky]

Would they just kill them all and not eat any of them?

Yes they'll kill but not eat if they aren't hungry.

 

[McChooky]

"To be honest it looks as if someone went in there lined them up and executed them. "
Classic sign of a weasel.

 

[azygous]

I've been on this site for many years. Over that time, there have been a few cases such as this where the entire flock died suddenly and all at the same time. Fortunately, in most of those other cases, the OP stuck around and provided clues as we offered suggestions. In this case the OP skipped out early, likely because they had no flock left to warrant further participation on BYC. So we don't have all the clues we could have had.

Of those past cases, there was one where an adjacent work shop with gasses and chemicals in use accounted for the sudden death of the entire flock as the toxic fumes permeated into the coop.

Another flock was lost from contaminated ground water from adjacent fracking by petroleum companies. The water was so poisonous they were forced to flee their home for a year.

Another case where all the chickens died suddenly had hung a red heat lamp that was teflon coated to prevent shattering. The poisonous gas killed every chicken, and they were huddled together in one spot just as this flock.

One tragic case involved a coop fire where the chickens all died of smoke inhalation. They were also positioned all together as this flock was, on rooster died trying to shelter the hen next to him with his wing.

In all cases where an entire flock was killed that involved a predator, the scene was one of mayhem, blood and gore and feathers and dead bodies scattered all over. Or just one chicken per night mysteriously disappeared until the cause was discovered to be a stealth predator.

In cases where toxic mold or rat poison was involved, it sickened some chickens, killed some, and left some survivors.

It's my belief that if the OP of this thread were to return, we would likely find out there was some sort of environmental factor involved in the uniform and sudden death of this flock. While it's still a broad category, an environmental cause is the only one where it would be possible for every single chicken in the flock to die at the same time without a mark of injury on the bodies.

I'm even going to stick my neck out and speculate that the OP did finally discover the cause of death and was too upset they accidentally set their flock up to be poisoned and were too embarrassed or grief stricken to continue the thread after losing their entire flock to ignorance or carelessness, deciding to just walk away and put the nightmare behind them.

 

[Magda12]

I've been on this site for many years. Over that time, there have been a few cases such as this where the entire flock died suddenly and all at the same time. Fortunately, in most of those other cases, the OP stuck around and provided clues as we offered suggestions. In this case the OP skipped out early, likely because they had no flock left to warrant further participation on BYC. So we don't have all the clues we could have had.

Of those past cases, there was one where an adjacent work shop with gasses and chemicals in use accounted for the sudden death of the entire flock as the toxic fumes permeated into the coop.

Another flock was lost from contaminated ground water from adjacent fracking by petroleum companies. The water was so poisonous they were forced to flee their home for a year.

Another case where all the chickens died suddenly had hung a red heat lamp that was teflon coated to prevent shattering. The poisonous gas killed every chicken, and they were huddled together in one spot just as this flock.

One tragic case involved a coop fire where the chickens all died of smoke inhalation. They were also positioned all together as this flock was, on rooster died trying to shelter the hen next to him with his wing.

In all cases where an entire flock was killed that involved a predator, the scene was one of mayhem, blood and gore and feathers and dead bodies scattered all over. Or just one chicken per night mysteriously disappeared until the cause was discovered to be a stealth predator.

In cases where toxic mold or rat poison was involved, it sickened some chickens, killed some, and left some survivors.

It's my belief that if the OP of this thread were to return, we would likely find out there was some sort of environmental factor involved in the uniform and sudden death of this flock. While it's still a broad category, an environmental cause is the only one where it would be possible for every single chicken in the flock to die at the same time without a mark of injury on the bodies.

I'm even going to stick my neck out and speculate that the OP did finally discover the cause of death and was too upset they accidentally set their flock up to be poisoned and were too embarrassed or grief stricken to continue the thread after losing their entire flock to ignorance or carelessness, deciding to just walk away and put the nightmare behind them.

This is an interesting take... I also find it odd that OP was asking about hatching eggs 5 days after posting this.

She did reply to some posts on this thread a few days ago, btw.

 

[azygous]

This was the only reference to hatching eggs from the OP. No updates as to whether those eggs hatched.

Post #17 "I do not have room in my freezer and my husband is very much wanting to just dispose of them, deep clean the coop/run and start fresh. He immediately gathered all eggs ans put them in the incubator... I on the other hand want to know what happened."

 

[Magda12]

This was the only reference to hatching eggs from the OP. No updates as to whether those eggs hatched.

Post #17 "I do not have room in my freezer and my husband is very much wanting to just dispose of them, deep clean the coop/run and start fresh. He immediately gathered all eggs ans put them in the incubator... I on the other hand want to know what happened."

She posted a new thread about hatching here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/black-laced-red-wyandotte-bred-with-bcm.1508292/

 

[Countryhippie]

It really does sound like some type of poison or air pollutant. Only thing would be to have a vet do a check and see blood tests. Maybe a predator, but I dont understand the lack of damage to the animals.

I am so sorry this happened.