Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

So I had a chicken pass away in September--I didn't think much of it--it was just a mixed breed of not great genes--18 months old.

I wrote here about a Silkie mom that had lost tons of weight and just passed away--thought it was due to over-sitting on eggs this year. Okay, I know it happens.

Then a 3 month old is processed and found with Sepicemia....

And now, I have just picked up an 8 month old Buff tonight because she was acting weird....it has lost a couple of lbs and her comb is purpley in colour.

What am I to be looking for to solve this mystery? Might they all be interconnected? I don't want to watch everyone pass away. The other chickens I had processed the other day were fine.

No sign of breathing trouble, mites or lice. I wormed them in September with Ivermectin. They are fed shurgrain and a stew [veggies, hamburger meat] every other week and other veggie scraps. With the absence of breathing trouble, runny noses, coughs it seems like a weird thing.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Blackhead? http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseasein ... blackhead/

Blackhead I don't think is very likely since most chickens are immune although they do serve as acarrier. A purple comb may indicate heart or circulatory problems. I have had a couple like this although they were older birds. Sorry not much help.

I don't think they are connected, personally, it sounds like very different things going on with each. But some viruses can hide and ause organ damage, so when the next one mysteriously dies, you may want to necropsy and see if there's anything unusual going on.

@Satellite, do you mean Septicemia, as in blood poisoning? I'm very curious how you know it was that? Did you test? My interest is peaked.

Thank you for your thoughts! @Maximus...when I took them in to be processed, it was found as septicemia.

After reading more, I am very strongly suspect Mareks. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-g ... isease-faq