Whole flock gone

[ladygrower1358]

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.

predator? i've had some killed and others without injury dead. i think they keel over from fright!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'm surprised that no one has commented on this yet. FIRST OF ALL, what about this avian flu thing that has been going around? Could it be that? And secondly, when you have an unusual and mass die-off like this, I think one is supposed to call your local agricultural extension office or game and fish office (varies by state) and preserve the bodies if they request SO THEY CAN TEST for a contagious disease. So that would be my recommendation.

Someone did mention it, I'm pretty sure. It doesn't kill in hours though, the birds usually display symptoms for at least a day or so before succumbing as far as I'm aware

 

[choking]

The only time I have seen such was in West Africa and the culprit was a cobra. Could it be a snake in this case? if so I would think large and poisonous.

 

[bjdewell]

I'm so sorry. This is a terrible thing to happen, no matter the how. I agree that I'd want to discover the cause, if possible, before starting up another flock. Good luck to you.

 

[triciayoung]

I'm so sorry. This is a terrible thing to happen, no matter the how. I agree that I'd want to discover the cause, if possible, before starting up another flock. Good luck to you.

I agree with you completely @bjdewell. Why get more chickens that may succumb to the same thing. The only way to avoid that is to find out what happened. I have to say, now that I have read the posts- I am concerned about weasels. I didn't know how vicious they are with food and how they would attack animals bigger than them. Always something to worry about with the chickens.

 

[PenelopeJane]

Have you changed their ventilation?

 

[Mouthpear]

I just wanted to say that I feel for you and your loss. I hope you figure this out.

 

[Jackie777]

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?

So very sorry for your loss.....! My suggestion would be get one to vet for an autopsy. Only way to get anything concrete. Since no evidence of a predator the only other possibility is illness, or some toxin. How awful....how sad. Condolences

 

[tesncs]

I am so so sorry. Were they injured that you could see? Feather piles? Was the coop door open? Pictures of the setup?

We had a bobcat get in with ours. It killed all the ones that were unable to fly into the rafters. The dead ones showed little sign of being attacked. It did take one chicken to eat I suppose. The only way we knew it was a bobcat was we captured a picture of it on a nearby game camera.

 

[WylieCoyote]

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?

One year we had ten young chickens killed at one time, and yes I found it odd they were laid out in a line, but two different places. And yes we knew what killed them. It was one of our young dogs that did it. If your coop and run is enclosed something had to get in there to kill them. I would doubt it would be poison and it is not likely they would all die at the same time. We did get rid of that one dog.