Whole flock gone

[ChixPainter]

It sounds like you should take one of the chickens to the vet to have them check; and maybe some of the feed in case they find signs of poison. You don't have neighbors/enemies that would poison/kill your chickens do you? People can be crazy.

 

[Cindyv10]

It hurts so badly to loose all at once. Happened to me once after a raccoon invasion.

You mention livestock sweet feed. That has copper in it, and copper is toxic to birds. Perhaps in their eagerness to eat such a treat, they ate enough to kill themselves.

 

[Mosey2003]

I would pluck some necks to make absolutely sure it wasn't a weasel, as that seems most likely. Also agree that you should get a couple necropsied if you don't find punctures.

 

[GeneralPublic]

Is it possible that they were annoying a neighbor? I know that sounds terrible, but every time we read the news the unimaginable seems to happen.

 

[Down Easter]

Hello. I am looking to see of anyone might have a clue to our mystery. Yesterday evening we went out to the coop to collect eggs and all 12 hens and our 1 rooster were dead in the coop. None of them in the run. They were all on one side of the coop and it was the strangest thing. No indication of a predator. They're all different ages, the oldest being 3 years and the youngest not even a year.

They had stopped laying for several months, so we added in black sunflower oil seeds, all stock sweet feed, and catfish food pellets. Within 2 days they started laying again. This was a little over a week ago. My thought initially is if it were poison, then wouldn't they be scattered through out the run and the coop?..and they all died the same afternoon... any thoughts?

Do you have close neighbors by any chance? Is it possible that you have a neighbor who doesn't like it when the rooster crows? Sounds like a possible poisoning to me.

 

[GardenDmpls]

All at once suggests to me electricity. Do you have any running to the coop, perhaps to run an electric water heater. An electrical short or lightning could cause deaths all at once, and you would have to look at the feet or under the feathers for contact burns. If you do have electricity running in be careful to turn it off before touching anything. If it was lightning, you might need a lightning rod.

Another thing I thought of might be botulism type c, which is found in fish (connecting to catfish food- is it made of fish or for feeding to fish?) Hope you get some answers.

 

[Etiene]

Just before Thanksgiving 2022 I lost six hens and one rooster. I have cameras and saw a fisher exiting the coop. It was very hard to go in the coop to remove the dead. The last one I picked up was alive! She was hiding in a pot. This was the first time I have seen a Fisher, as I have only heard them in the woods. I was too lenient allowing them to stay out after dark. Now I have them in the run before sunset. So I kn how you must feel losing your flock.

 

[Candy2dog]

Hello. I am looking to see of anyone might have a clue to our mystery. Yesterday evening we went out to the coop to collect eggs and all 12 hens and our 1 rooster were dead in the coop. None of them in the run. They were all on one side of the coop and it was the strangest thing. No indication of a predator. They're all different ages, the oldest being 3 years and the youngest not even a year.

They had stopped laying for several months, so we added in black sunflower oil seeds, all stock sweet feed, and catfish food pellets. Within 2 days they started laying again. This was a little over a week ago. My thought initially is if it were poison, then wouldn't they be scattered through out the run and the coop?..and they all died the same afternoon... any thoughts?

SOOO sorry...that is devastating! I hate to say it but a mink or weasel will do such a thing. And they can get into the smallest places and climb most anything. I had 3 killed by a mink last year and it look like it just fell over dead.

 

[lifein1840]

Hello. I am looking to see of anyone might have a clue to our mystery. Yesterday evening we went out to the coop to collect eggs and all 12 hens and our 1 rooster were dead in the coop. None of them in the run. They were all on one side of the coop and it was the strangest thing. No indication of a predator. They're all different ages, the oldest being 3 years and the youngest not even a year.

They had stopped laying for several months, so we added in black sunflower oil seeds, all stock sweet feed, and catfish food pellets. Within 2 days they started laying again. This was a little over a week ago. My thought initially is if it were poison, then wouldn't they be scattered through out the run and the coop?..and they all died the same afternoon... any thoughts?

could be something in the new feed you were giving them?

 

[youngpaul35]

We are in north Texas. The setup is a small leland shed and the run is a chain link dog run covered with chicken wire and the top is a chicken wire roof. They weren't piled up but they definitely were not scattered. To be honest it looks as if someone went in there lined them up and executed them... does that make sense? We checked the perimeter for any holes, or possible ways a predator would have gotten in and didn't find anything. No teeth marks, no blood, and none of them had missing feathers that we could see. We aren't ruling anything out. I was just wondering if anyone had heard of such a thing happening and if it could have been any of the new stuff we added to their feed. It was shocking because they hadn't laid since before the heat of the summer, but 2 days after adding the above to their feed they were back laying again.

Weasels can desimate a flock with out any indication that they were there, very hard to determine that they were present, usually just sucking the blood out of the chickens, hard to see the teeth marks on neck, check if there’s any indication of teeth marks on throat area