Help needed - birds dying no apparant reason

[Guest]

I am looking for some help concerning my daughters\' Ameraucanas. She purchased them from Paul Smith in late April. They are about 5 months old, they arrived healthy and have  been in great health until now.  We have other chickens on our property also and have not lost any chickens in many, many months until the Ameraucanas.

We do not free range any of our chickens  because of predators.  

The blue pullet died first with no signs of injury or sickness. The next day a black pullet died. I just thought that it was a freak thing or egg relatd since we had a LF black cochin pullet die in another pen die the same day the same age.  Several days passed and everything was well until today. A black pullet was dead this morning and several of the cockerels are not looking well.

The pen is not wet or have any problems, it is not overcrowded. Before we moved them in this grow out pen we reroofed it because when it rained real hard it sometimes leaked.  So we fixed that problem. We still have them on grower. That pen eats very well.....

My daughter mentioned that they look like they are having a hard time swallowing. I am not sure what that would be from.

We have never had coryza since we lived here and I checked them for that. You can smell that a block away~

I hope that you can help with any suggestions.  

Thelma

[John]

Thelma,
Do a search on this forum for the word \"vaccine\" and you\'ll get some ideas.  It may not be too late to vaccinate if it is a virus.  
If a cotton swap in the roof of a sick chicken\'s mouth comes out bloody I would suspect ILT.
Photos may be helpful.

[Birch Run Farm]

Any chance you got some bad or moldy feed?

[Mike Gilbert]

If they have no apparent symptoms, like gasping, coughing, watery eyes, etc, it may not be respiratory.   I would get them into another pen and change the feed immediately.
Sometimes toxins can get into the grain that the feed is made of.

[Guest]

Here are links that can help with diagnosing problems:

http://www.birdcareco.com/USA/USAArticles_and_advice/USBreederArts/US_Chick_Problems/us_chick_problems.html

http://www.organic-vet.reading.ac.uk/Poultryweb/miscel/Default.htm

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Below is a good standard set of questions to be sure people know things about a particular situation that can help in getting best advice:

1) What type of bird, age and weight.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all? Normal amounts? Any changes in feed?
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use.
11) Have the bird\'s coopmates shown signs of problems?
12) Is there any unusual build-up, growths or swelling in or around the bird\'s eyes or nose? Does breathing seem normal?
13) Has the bird\'s activity level seemed normal (sleeping, hiding, fleeing from other chickens, etc.)?
14) Does the bird show signs of problems with movement?

I hope some of the above is useful. Best wishes  

[Paul]

Sorry, to see this is happening to you.  The birds wouldn\'t have made it five months, and there would have been alot of bad reports, (especially with as many boxes as we sent) if the chicks had something when they were sent out.

There are several things that may be killing your birds.  Being in the Southern part of the US, where there are a lot of
mosquitoes, it is a good possibility, it may be fowl pox.  Check your birds about dusk to see if mosquitoes are feeding on them.  Pox causes small white sores to break out on the birds combs and wattles if they have any.  It also causes scabs to develop on the birds eyes.  We have vaccinated for Pox the past 13 years in early July.

If it is LT, the birds will be gasping for air.  Their eyes will be watery-bubbling like they have spit in them.  Advanced stages cause bleeding in mouth and nose.

It may require the assistance of a vet to send a dead one off, for an autopsy.  That will be the only sure diagnosis.  Don\'t give up!  Find out what the problem is, then vaccinate to prevent it.  Good luck and keep everyone informed so all can learn.

Paul Smith

[Anne Foley]

Here in Indiana we are having terrible problems with Mareks.  A breeder friend of ours just lost most of the pullets and cockerels he hatched this year.  I only mention it because it hits young birds as they are reaching sexual maturity and it sounds like your birds are about that age.  Sometimes the manifestations are obvious (wing paralysis, severe loss of weight, etc) but other times the birds die without warning.  We now innocuate our chicks for Mareks.  Don\'t be afraid to take one in for necropsy.  Knowing is better than wondering and worrying.  Good Luck!

[Paul]

  Opps,  I goofed on this one!  The correct term is necropsy.  An autopsy is the term for people, not animals.  I knew this, but it totally slipped my mind, with all the gray hair starting to surface there may be more slipping ahead!

Thanks Ann for your input.  I must agree, it could be Mareks.

[Guest]

Have you put in new shavings that were wrapped in plastic?
I used shavings like that this spring, and when I opened the bag, it felt moist/warm and had an odor, but I used them anyhow. In a week, my birds started dying..to make a long story short, it was Aspergillis from mold in the shavings. I treated with Denagard when I finally figured it out and within 2 days birds stopped dying, unfortunately it took me 3 weeks to figure it out and I lost almost 20 birds.
Symptoms were just that the birds were not as perky, not necessarily thin, but not good weight either. After 2 days on the Denagard, the birds were more upright & acting normal, although if they hadn\'t started dying, I probably wouldn\'t have noticed they were kinda droopy.
Probably any antibiotic for bacteria would work, I just happened to have the Denagard on hand.

Sterling