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Your coop is very handsome! However, unless the walls we can't see have big hardware cloth covered openings, it's not well ventilated. And hardware cloth needs to be very well attached! Ours is stapled to wood framing with fencing staples, and then 1x4" boards are screwed in over the staples...

Mice are a constant struggle, but rats are a much greater risk to your birds (and yourself). Openings large enough for rats to enter are also large enough for members of the weasel family! Rats will eat eggs and kill chickens, and weasels can kill an entire flock in one night. Mary

Welcome! If you have an actual predator proof run and coop, it's all fine (as long as there are no bears!). Pictures of your run and coop will help us here, and your approximate location. Many of us have learned the hard way that our chickens weren't as safe as we thought they were... Mary

It's not 'nutty' to try and be safer out there! But it's also true that everything can't be avoided, it's not a perfect world. Mary

And in those 'good old days', neither lead not asbestos were considered all that dangerous in and around homes. Our veggie garden was right next to our house, painted with decades of paint containing lead. And so many ceramic dishes, until not so long ago, have lead in the glaze and paint...

IMO a more important issue for our backyard flocks concerns lead. Older buildings will often have lead paint, which flakes off into the soil nearby. Chickens root around in that soil and eat the paint chips, soil, and plant growing in it. We are blessed with buildings that weren't painted, and...

Birds eat the berries, spreading it everywhere! We have it here too, and when I work at removing it, I'm wearing rubber gloves and a hazmat suit. We also have poison hemlock, so the same precautions apply. You all may also now have poison hemlock, a way worse plant, look it up. Don't burn...

x5, cockerel. And very handsome! Mary

Agree x100%!!! I've got other things to worry about, and actually our food supply is pretty safe, including the feed we buy for our birds. Safer than in many places, and much safer than, say, a century ago or further back than that. Looking for perfection isn't all that useful. Mary

Necropsies...

Welcome! Both are cockerels. How about pictures of your other chicks? Two out of twelve isn't bad, hope there aren't any more. Mary

Were they overheating? Cold? Or just that you have reached the end of a disaster? Have you used this heat lamp before? Mary

The cattle aren't dying, as chickens and turkeys do, when infected. And we've had mass killing of dairy cattle, in the late 70's or early 80', look up the film 'Bitter harvest'. Here in Michigan! Mary

@NanaK , thanks for posting this article. Mary

We get email notifications from MDARD, and saw this. :barnie Not going to be a good summer... Mary

How old is the feed? check the mill date, and look for any mold or whatever in it. Are all the dying chicks from one source, or is it totally random? Consider having necropsies done... So sorry for this mess! Mary

Best to spray again, in ten days or so. Some folks spray every seven days, three times in a row. And check at least a few birds, at night with that flashlight, every week or two. We have repeated mite episodes here, because we do free range, and wild sparrows will get into our coop. Mary

Cackle chicks arrived this afternoon, were shipped Wednesday. One dead out of nineteen, not terrible. And cute, of course! Pictures later. Ten white Chanties, and several EE pullets (we hope!). Mary

We also use the Victor metal live traps, without the windows. Chicken scratch is great as bait in there! Also, the trap doors can get jammed and fail to work. Check them every time... Mry

Glad you are all okay, @Swiss! We just had rain here, nothing exciting. This time. BBQ that food from the frig! And consider at least a portable generator, or best, a whole house generator. We have a Generax (sp?) and it's been great for our peace of mind, living in the country as we do. Mary