Why are my chickens dying?

[dcsaina]

About 2 days ago I went to let the chickens out of their coop and when I do this they all sprint to the gate excited but I noticed they were not so eager that day and 3 of them were missing. I went to fill up their water and saw two of them lying on the ground. From far away they looked like they were asleep but as you got closer they were clearly dead with their legs sprawled out and one of them her neck was all tense and up right with the feathers on the neck sticking up. Their was also another hen dead in its nesting box lying on its back with its feet also sprawled out. All three hens eyes were open and cloudy white and their bodies were stiff as boards. We thought that they may have been bitten by a brown snake as we saw one around here a couple of weeks ago and we live right next to wheat crops where they like to live and they chickens go in there sometimes.

The chicken which had its neck all tensed up looked like it may have died in pain so we thought that if we were home that day we would have heard it. So in one day we lost three and the remaining chickens weren't really themselves and seemed depressed and were hanging around our front door, one was off by itself sitting in the corner. I thought they perhaps they were just sad about losing the other chickens (not sure if chickens morn each other?). Around 6:30pm the chickens just go back into the coop by themselves and we close them in, its usually too dark to see which ones are in there but we stopped checking because they are always in there.

The next morning we went to let them out and noticed one was missing so we checked were she usually likes to hang out during the day and there she was dead, the same as the first three. But she was right next to the lounge so we most certainly would have heard her if she made noise so that made us think a snake bite was not involved.

So we only had three left from a total of 7. We went to let them out this morning and again found another hen dead, thats 5 dead in three days!!!!!! we now only have two left with one rooster and I am almost certain we are going to lose another one tonight I don't know what is going on.

Food has not been changed, apart from the other couple of days I feed them rice cakes because I wasn't going to eat them and they loved them, but I don't think its that. A few days early their coop was all cleaned out and fresh hay was laid out, water changed everything. I live in Toowoomba, Queensland area Australia. Need help!

 

[realsis]

I'm so so sorry! sounds like maybe a snake is getting in your coop. why don't you go out during the night and check the hen house. check every where it could hide or get in at. it could be waiting until evening then coming into hen house? if you don't notice any symptoms other then sudden death it very well could be a snake or something poisonous in the house. I have a feeling its something getting into the hen house during the night. I really hope you can figure it out. you can have a neucropsey or after death exam done to tell you EXACTLY what's going on. this might be a good idea this way you know what your dealing with or if its disease or predators or what. this way you will know exactly what's on your property. sometimes college's will do the exams at a reduced fee. or state vet. at this point its worth it to find out just what's causing this! again I'm so sorry! good luck

 

[chickenoverlord]

I'm sorry! If you can, put the remaing chickens in some kind of animal friendly container and bring them inside. That's the best way to determine whether it's a predator or not.

 

[dcsaina]

Yes we thought it was a snake when we found the first three dead but then after we found the fourth one dead right next to the house without hearing a peep we suspected perhaps it wasn't. Plus brown snakes are only active during the day. The chickens usually make a lot of racket when something comes near them, we used to not lock them in at night but then a fox got to some of them and you heard the chickens for miles. But again I am clueless. We are students with no job at the moment and no car so are unable to take them to find out what has been happening

I have been doing some researching and it kind of sounds like they may have marek's disease. I think perhaps when we bought the four new chickens 2 months ago one of them perhaps was carrying it? Which is horrible because that means the remaining two are going to die . I might have to talk to the place we brought them from to see if they have had a case of a lot of their chickens dying. It has been horrible watching them drop off one by one.

 

[dcsaina]

Also it looks pretty likely that they have Marek's disease so will the rooster be infected and die also? Haven't seen a lot of cases around roosters having the disease. Thank you

 

[chickenoverlord]

Do they have any nasal or eye discharge, or damaged feathers? It might be any number of things, including mareks. Also, check if they have the symptoms of Newcastle.

 

[dcsaina]

Hi,

No that's the strange thing they have no signs of illness what so ever, but I have read that chickens are very good at hiding their illness. But eyes are good, full of feathers, healthy appetite. Just like all the other chickens but they just suddenly died. I have been spending some time with the remaining two today and they seem perfectly fine but I am scared they are going to die tonight. Thought it was something getting into the coop but when we found one which died the same way which never made it back to the coop and there was no blood or feathers missing indicating it was killed by something. Thank you for trying to help!

 

[chickenoverlord]

Mareks usually displays outward symptoms, I'm sorry about your birds. This is REALLY weird though. What kinds of chemicals at they exposed to, what feed additives, and do they have algae in their water?

 

[dcsaina]

When we find them dead they are stiff as anything, not limp what so ever and their eyes are open and all white but I thought maybe that is just how their eyes are when they die? We let them roam where ever they want and they never leave the property. We do live next to wheat crops though? But water is clean, I refill it every couple of days, usually gets muddy because we have two ducks that live with them and they like to sit in the water container. We had 8 chicken and one rooster, four we have had for around a year then we bought another 4 (and two ducks) about 2 months ago from a place we bought the orignal chickens from and the place always vaccinates their animals.

About a week ago one of the new ones went missing (I thought it was my girlfriends dads dog who chased it away when she came to visit) but 2 days ago 2 of the new chickens and one old chicken died. The next day the final new chicken died (the one that never made it to the coop) so thats all the new chickens gone (I think the one I thought ran away probably died the same way somewhere just can't find it) and this morning found one of the old chickens dead so only have the final 2 old chickens.

We live kind of out in the country and our water is not drinkable for humans, it will make you really sick but the chickens drink it and have been drinking it this entire time so I don't think its the water. Food is the general chicken feed you get from the place we buy them from, just wheat and nutrient rich things. We are so clueless??

 

[chickenoverlord]

Here, check this out. Skip to the diseases listing, and see if any match. I'm thinking sudden chicken death syndrome, but yours aren't broilers. http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/Poultry_Health_Disease