[Alison_T]

It doesn't happen often, but it is happening. We give them Vermex, worm them regularly, are almost anal about red mite...but suddenly, one chicken will be fine, with a bright red comb and feeding perfectly in the morning - then, by late afternoon, she's feet up.

What on earth can this be? It is so unexpected! We look after our girls so well (or at least try to). None of the ones which have died have been more than about 8 months old, tops.

[joyfull]

please stop using verm-x to worm them it is only a herbal preventative and is not proven to actually work. Instead buy some flubenvet - this has been proven in scientific trials and is licenced for poultry.

[Aunt Sally]

As Joy said -  Bin the verm-x and buy some flubenvet !

[Lindeggs]

Just to clarify - are you using verm-x and also worming them regularly, or just using the verm-x as the wormer? 

The sudden death syndrome does sound very odd.  If it was worms causing it I would have expected them to go downhill slowly, not die as suddenly as that. 

What breed are your chickens, how many do you have, and how many have died?  Also can you tell us more about them to see if anyone can spot a potential problem?  How are they housed? What do they eat?  Any more clues you can think of that might help identify the problem?

[ehs284]

For perfectly healthy hens to die during the day suggests that they may be poisoned. Have a look for anything they could eat. It may not be food-like; ours ate the whole polystyrene insulation board from the side of the house before we caught them at it. It may not be toxic, just something which swells. What do they drink - can they get access to liquids (paraffin, paint stripper etc?  What colour are the combs, feet, eyelids ? Anything around the mouth? Anything swollen/hard?

[joyfull]

chickens mask their illnesses very well (part of the survival of the fittest) and often we do not know they are ill until it is too late. If it happens again I would suggest getting an autopsy carried out to find the cause - usually they like a bird still alive so that all the tests will be carried out straight after death, however they can test for some things and also find out if there are any organ failures. Grannie Annie had some birds die that had an internal type of worm not usually known about (discovered by getting an autopsy done) and hers died suddenly but flubenvet has sorted out this problem.

[Alison_T]

Hello all - no we don't worm AND verm-ex...and eating something during the day could possibly happen, I guess. We live in a very quiet neighbourhood, but there is a rear access road and you do sometimes get kids chucking their rubbish over.

When they have died suddenly like this, they have been perfectly healthy during the day - no paling of combs, no scabby feet...

We have them in two wooden chicken houses which are regularly demited. We scrub them down first, let them dry off, then use the mite killer and also the powder. The last time we did this was in April.

We feed them smallholders layers pellets and have done for years. Their treat is sunflower seeds and vegetable scraps from the kitchen.

It's just a mystery!

[joyfull]

do you use poultry shield on your coops? - although I doubt though that they have died from red mite infestation as they would have become lethargic and pale combed. However I do think you need to worm them with something better than verm-x, verm-x is only a herbal concoction and has no studies to prove that it eradicates worms (this is despite several of us sending in requests to see any studies regarding this). Flubenvet which is licensed for poultry has the studies to back it up and the large poultry farmers use it (my next door neighbours family used to have a poultry farm and this is what they used), it will erradicate all the worms that your hens may have. I would suggest you worm them every three months, you can still eat any eggs whilst they are being wormed.

[Alison_T]

Yes, Poultry Shield is 'our friend' and we use it religiously. No, I don't think it has been a red mite infestation. But all of you have recommended Flubenvet, so I am going to go to the shop and buy some today. Better to be safe than sorry!
Thanks for all your suggestions...just hope we don't have any others snuff it unexpectedly!

[bantam novice]

Good Luck with your hens, Alison.  I would agree with getting the Flubenvet. 

[Alison_T]

Thanks Bantam Novice...isn't it so sad when one of them karks it without any warning? When they look ill and miserable, it is so easy to get out the Baytrill and dose them up. But coming home from work and seeing a stiff chook is horrible. I hate it, cos I love them all like they were my kiddies! They are my best friends (when I have sunflower seeds in my hands) and talk to me...and I talk back to them.

Our Euphemia has her own language, and I have been able to imitate it perfectly. We have these weird conversations wherein she knows exactly what she is saying, and I have no idea!

[bantam novice]

I agree.  It is a horrible feeling when you find one that hasn't made it     
I have these coversations too with my hens.  I'm glad I'm not the only one 

[featherhead]

This is a long shot but is it possible they may be starving to death? Just found out one of my chickens is bulleying the others so it will not let them eat - I've put in two more feeding stations but she still chases the others away as often as she can.

[hillfooter]

Although I agree with the comments on the effectiveness of VermX and the recommendation to use flubenvet these birds are just 8 months old and unles the ground has been intensively used for chickens over a period of time I doubt that they would have picked up a worm load so lethal it killed them without them appearing very sick before hand.   There has to be a cause which probably an autopsy will reveal as Joy says.  It's beyond my powers of diagnosis to suggest an affliction which kills them suddenly without any symptoms to go on.  You could however tell us a little about them.

What breed? how old? are they in lay? How many do you have and howmany have died like this and at what intervals.  How many hens over what period have you had them.  Has any change in their husbandry taken place?  Has there been and history of illness?  Are their droppings normal or are they white and runny?  There must be something which will give us a clue as a mass suicide pact seems unlikely.

Sudden death syndrome doesn't occur as an epidemic as far as I know.

PS there are easier and cheaper ways to deal with red mite than poultry Shield and barrier Mite powder but I doubt this is connected to mite anyway

Best of luck
HF

[hillfooter]

chickens mask their illnesses very well (part of the survival of the fittest) and often we do not know they are ill until it is too late.

It's true chickens don't show they are ill as they are flock animals and often the weakest are picked on and culled out.  However it's the popular misquotiation of Darwin's natural selection  principle I take issue with.  Darwin never said "the survival of the fittest" he said 'the survival of the most fitting' .  He said this in relationship to a species not an individual and by it he meant that species which were best adapted to their environment and more particularly who were more able to adapt to their enviroment and able to reproduce efficiently, over the evolutionary scale of time, survived as a species and those species less fitting and unable to adapt faced extinction.  Darwin used fit in the sense we might refer to an attrractive young lady as fit when he would not have been refering to her athletic prowess.  Though in Sharapova's case she is both fit and "fit".

This natural chicken behaviour, in common with many herd animals, has nothing to do with evolutionary species survival but everything to do with individual survival.

The misquote is often heard in the context of the individual who is most fit in the sense of physical vigour, lives longer.  This maybe true but that wasn't the principle of natural selection that Darwin postulated.