Everyone died??!!

[Amagou81]

Desperate for some help! We made a couple brooders for ducklings and chicks in our wood heated garage and used heat lamps to keep them warm. A few died and the feed store replaced them but more died. Within 3 days everyone was dead. So we switched to a tote in our spare room in our house heated with heat pump. Waterers and feeders were washed thoroughly with hot water and dish detergent with bleach alternative. We put ducklings in and it was a new bag of wood chips but everyone died within 2 days. Someone was getting rid of some adult chickens and guineas. We put them out in our coop and run. They died! My fiance isn't very experienced with chickens and he was saying that they choked to death on the whole corn. Said he was helping one when he noticed it was acting off. It supposed puked up some yellow stuff and the corn. I have never had any guineas but I'm correct in the fact whole corn isn't going to make chickens choke to death, right? Obviously this is some sort of bird virus. We need to use bleach water on everything. Feeders, heat lamps, everything. And door knobs to the garage, on the coop, etc. But what about the ground in the run? He needs to turn it over anyway because it was a rough winter and is muddy. Will that be enough to kill whatever virus it could be? Or do we need to add in something like lime or something? He will need to empty and clean out the pond in the duck yard because the winter wrecked it too. The coop and run are in the corner of the duck yard. Should we treat the ground around there then, too? The whole yard? Or just so far around it? Precious to those ones given to us, it had been about a month since we freed our existing chickens and ducks. Like I said, winter took a big toll on their habitat and the chickens started killing each other. The two tom turkeys that had been buddies since they were poults turned on the other and fought til one died and the other was so injured he also died. The wind blew over the sun shade for the pond and damaged the duck coop. Again, any input would be great!

 

[50-45-1]

Sounds to me like you may have several things going on.
So first whole corn is not good for much. Plus if the chickens you were gifted were accustomed to processed foods and have no rocks in their gizzard, they cant process anything BUT processed feed. How long did you have them before they died?
What do you mean this other flock started " killing each other" describe exactly what was happening. How many of these are roosters?
There are more questions than answers.
What was the exact temperature of the brooder in the place you put the chicks and baby ducks?
What are you feeding?
What kind of shavings? Pine or cedar?
Is your adult flock in a secure pen/coop? What about nighttime, are they open?

 

[50-45-1]

Get the next dead bird to be tested for bird flu. It's the only way to rule it out.
You can see a detailed symptom list on Google.

 

[FrostRanger]

Get the next dead bird to be tested for bird flu. It's the only way to rule it out.
You can see a detailed symptom list on Google.

I think a necropsy is in order period to see what's going on. Contact your state's poultry extension to see about arranging for one

 

[WingItRanch]

Sounds to me like you may have several things going on.
So first whole corn is not good for much. Plus if the chickens you were gifted were accustomed to processed foods and have no rocks in their gizzard, they cant process anything BUT processed feed. How long did you have them before they died?
What do you mean this other flock started " killing each other" describe exactly what was happening. How many of these are roosters?
There are more questions than answers.
What was the exact temperature of the brooder in the place you put the chicks and baby ducks?
What are you feeding?
What kind of shavings? Pine or cedar?
Is your adult flock in a secure pen/coop? What about nighttime, are they open?

I have the same questions. Specifically, what exactly are you feeding them?

 

[Amagou81]

Sounds to me like you may have several things going on.
So first whole corn is not good for much. Plus if the chickens you were gifted were accustomed to processed foods and have no rocks in their gizzard, they cant process anything BUT processed feed. How long did you have them before they died?
What do you mean this other flock started " killing each other" describe exactly what was happening. How many of these are roosters?
There are more questions than answers.
What was the exact temperature of the brooder in the place you put the chicks and baby ducks?
What are you feeding?
What kind of shavings? Pine or cedar?
Is your adult flock in a secure pen/coop? What about nighttime, are they open?

The gifted ones had about a day and a half here. We also feed layer, a 5 grain scratch and the whole corn was left from the turkeys and ducks. It is supposed to help them stay warmer trying to digest it. I'm assuming that they had grit at their old home, and we have small gravel in the run, and I routinely tossed our old flock grit because I have it mixed with oyster shells for calcium for the hens.
Our hen count was almost 20 with 3 roosters. The run is surrounded with chicken wire and the coop is connected/built into the end of the run. The run is nearly 30'x10', they have a three level coop with open area underneath. It's about 6'x10' and about 8' tall. (Basically he built it so they walk up a ramp in the open area underneath it and they can go up to whatever level they like to lay their eggs or just chill. The top level has another enterence/exit that leads out to a ledge that runs about 6' long and there were several who liked to roost there instead of their actual roosting ladder) We were planning on making a second level of the run so if they wanted to go up there and roost in the tree limbs of the trees behind the run, they can and it'll be surrounded by wire so no predators can get them. A few of the hens were younger than the rest but almost full grown. The other hens were picking on them but nothing they couldn't escape. One rooster killed another. Then he started killing anyone. It took us awhile to figure it out because we thought a raccoon or fox got them. Couldn't find the way in and then I overheard a nasty fight and put it together. I never got to see which one it was and he would kill a couple at a time and then maybe a week later he would do it again.

As far as the brooders, I did neglect to get the temperature but it was the same lamps and same brand bulbs that I have used many times. Their food and water was on the other side so if they were too warm, they had a place to go. No one was huddled on the lamp side, they were acting happy all over. I could tell it was definitely high 80's for the ducklings which were at least a week old. (The feed store marks them down at a week old.) The brooders in the garage had a combination of this years good hay and some pine chips not the fine cut stuff. Inside brooder was the pine chips but it was a new bag I just bought. We fed chick start that's medicated. I normally like to add some apple cider vinegar to the water but was out of it. I added some hydro hen which is an electrolyte and probiotic supplement. A couple of the chicks were bantams so I pulverized the chick start so it was fine enough for them. I really don't know what I could have done wrong. Maybe the chicks weren't warm enough and that's why when I tried again, it was just ducklings which seem more hardy and I have more experience with.

 

[Amagou81]

I have the same questions. Specifically, what exactly are you feeding them?

In case you don't see my reply to another person's post I'm feeding layer crumbs, a 5 grain scratch and using up the whole corn left from winter feeding. The babies get medicated chick start

 

[townchicks]

One thing that comes to mind with the babies, check the bulbs in your heat lamps. Some bulbs are Teflon coated, which when heated, gives off a gas that birds are very sensitive to and can kill in a short time.

 

[FrostRanger]

The gifted ones had about a day and a half here. We also feed layer, a 5 grain scratch and the whole corn was left from the turkeys and ducks. It is supposed to help them stay warmer trying to digest it. I'm assuming that they had grit at their old home, and we have small gravel in the run, and I routinely tossed our old flock grit because I have it mixed with oyster shells for calcium for the hens.
Our hen count was almost 20 with 3 roosters. The run is surrounded with chicken wire and the coop is connected/built into the end of the run. The run is nearly 30'x10', they have a three level coop with open area underneath. It's about 6'x10' and about 8' tall. (Basically he built it so they walk up a ramp in the open area underneath it and they can go up to whatever level they like to lay their eggs or just chill. The top level has another enterence/exit that leads out to a ledge that runs about 6' long and there were several who liked to roost there instead of their actual roosting ladder) We were planning on making a second level of the run so if they wanted to go up there and roost in the tree limbs of the trees behind the run, they can and it'll be surrounded by wire so no predators can get them. A few of the hens were younger than the rest but almost full grown. The other hens were picking on them but nothing they couldn't escape. One rooster killed another. Then he started killing anyone. It took us awhile to figure it out because we thought a raccoon or fox got them. Couldn't find the way in and then I overheard a nasty fight and put it together. I never got to see which one it was and he would kill a couple at a time and then maybe a week later he would do it again.

As far as the brooders, I did neglect to get the temperature but it was the same lamps and same brand bulbs that I have used many times. Their food and water was on the other side so if they were too warm, they had a place to go. No one was huddled on the lamp side, they were acting happy all over. I could tell it was definitely high 80's for the ducklings which were at least a week old. (The feed store marks them down at a week old.) The brooders in the garage had a combination of this years good hay and some pine chips not the fine cut stuff. Inside brooder was the pine chips but it was a new bag I just bought. We fed chick start that's medicated. I normally like to add some apple cider vinegar to the water but was out of it. I added some hydro hen which is an electrolyte and probiotic supplement. A couple of the chicks were bantams so I pulverized the chick start so it was fine enough for them. I really don't know what I could have done wrong. Maybe the chicks weren't warm enough and that's why when I tried again, it was just ducklings which seem more hardy and I have more experience with.

It's just a myth that corn keeps birds warm, if that were true than regular chicken feed would be dangerous in summer as most chicken feed is mostly corn

With the older birds, it sounds like you need to remove the rooster that is attacking the hens and cull him. Also know that chicken wire is only good for keeping chickens in, it won't keep much of anything out. I would cut out the scratch and corn as it's not needed and is further reducing the amount of nutrients they're getting from their feed which most layer feed has the bare minimum amount of protein anyways and protein deficiencies can cause a number of behavior problems including feather picking, egg eating and increased aggression. Since you have a rooster, I actually wouldn't feed layer feed at all since the extra calcium is bad for any bird not laying, including roosters. I'd go with an all flock feed (which as an added benefit, usually has more protein) and provide oyster shell on the side for anyone laying

As for the chicks, I would absolutely get a necropsy done if you lose another one

 

[gtaus]

Sorry for your loss. That is really disappointing.

Let me suggest that you add your geographic location to your member icon. Knowing your location often helps others help you with better responses. For example, I live in northern Minnesota, and I expect my challenges and solutions might be quite different than someone living in southern California.

I have not been affected by the bird flu, but maybe you are in that zone?

It sounds like you have many problems going on all at the same time. I cannot wrap my head around all the issues you have posted. Have you considered just restarting with a small number of chickens, and working out the kinks?

FWIW, I use heat lamps in my brooder setup but have a remote thermometer reading the temps at all times. I still use the 95F for week one, 90F for week two, etc... It works for me. But the point is that I know the temp in my brooder all the time. My base unit inside the house reads out the temps in the brooder, and I can even set both high and low alarms and make adjustments if needed.

When things go so bad, maybe it's just best to scale down and concentrate on the fundamentals of heat, feed, and water. Assuming, of course, that you have not been hit by bird flu in your region. I have never had to deal with that. Good luck.