Whole flock gone

[Magda12]

I just want to thank you all for continuing to reply to this post and dig in, regardless of how old it is. Much of what I have learned is from reading and following these, hoping to build up knowledge BEFORE I have an emergency!

 

[Goosebaby]

Theres nothing to update really... the birds all died and we did not do any testing. We've had chickens for 3 years. The ages ranged from 3 years to almost a year old. The older girls were from meyers hatchery and tsc, some of the younger ones were chicks we hatched and tractor supply. My husband believes it was too much protein from the things we added to try to get them laying again. (Black sunflower seeds, sweet feed, and catfish food)

I’m so sorry!

 

[BecksNesting]

If you or he are tired of the topic, that's fine. Ignore the rest of this post.

But for anyone still interested:

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

20% protein is fine for chickens of both genders and all ages (it's common in chick starter and all-flock feeds). 16% is more common in layer feed, although some people think that is lower than ideal.

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.

Sweet feed appears to range from 10% to 12% protein, depending on which brand I look at. That is horribly low for chicken feed.

Catfish pellets may be as high as 35% protein, from what I'm seeing online. But if you were giving those lower-protein foods too, it is quite unlikely that your chickens got enough protein to be harmed.

Of course checking the exact bags of feed that were used would give more exact numbers.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119381106
This page has the abstract of a study about high protein diets in chickens. They specifically mention several previous studies that found problems (poor growth, not death) in chickens fed 35% protein, 38% protein, and 40% protein. So even if your chickens were eating pure catfish food and nothing else, they would probably not get enough protein to drop dead. And why they would all drop dead at once, after more than a week on the changed diet, I have no idea.

(But those other foods are not a good diet for chickens, so avoiding them may be in the long-term best interests of any new chickens, even if the reason for avoiding them is wrong.)

 

[user605178]

@Kwdfunnyfarm I’m sorry for your loss but for the community’s sake could you post an update?

Also how long have you had your birds?
How old were they when they died?
Where did you get your birds originally?

I know you’re new here and that this post is from January with few updates in a long while but the loss of 13 birds in such a manner is highly unusual and of a lot of interest to other flock owners because learning from incidences like yours can improve how others care for their flocks or anticipate problems before they appear, so an update would be greatly appreciated.

Was it cold that night maybe they froze on the roost is there a draft like open door? I've seen them freeze to death on the roost .

 

[NatJ]

Was it cold that night maybe they froze on the roost is there a draft like open door? I've seen them freeze to death on the roost .

Good question, but I think that's been pretty well ruled out. Here are some quotes from various places in the thread:

Someone asked if it had been extra hot or cold that day, and the response was

No temperature had been steady all week.

It happened during the daytime, not at night:

I heard the rooster that morning and hears the hens clucking during the day when I went outside. But I don't check on them during the day - there's an automatic opener that let's them in and out. So I only go once a day to collect eggs and feed and water.

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

the door was open because it was still early evening.

And they're not in a really cold climate either:

We are in north Texas.

 

[WildHair]

I just want to thank you all for continuing to reply to this post and dig in, regardless of how old it is. Much of what I have learned is from reading and following these, hoping to build up knowledge BEFORE I have an emergency!

thats exactly how i feel as well <3

 

[The Truth Is Out There]

Not knowing what happened is the WORST part about the whole ordeal!
The only thing i would suggest avoiding is cat fish food for future birds. Who knows where it was made and what was in it?
I read about people’s prized fish dying from the food they bought online because it was contaminated.
I hope your new flock is happy and healthy for years to come!

 

[McChooky]

"To be honest it looks as if someone went in there lined them up and executed them... does that make sense?"

No other predator organize their bodies but a weasel( stoat,mink, etc).Tiny bite marks can go undetected.

 

[Magda12]

No other predator organize their bodies but a weasel( stoat,mink, etc).Tiny bite marks can go undetected.

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

 

[Anime2lover]

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

Lots of predators do that. I don't know about weasels, minks and such though.