The Mystery of the Dead Chickens. And now one rabbit...

This weekend has been...odd. Surreal. Whatever.
I'm reaching out to this community to see if anyone can help expand my thinking on what's happening on my farm. Because so far, all I can do is shrug and shake my head, while saying "I don't know what's going on."

Sunday, my daughter and I were leaving for a hike, and I noticed a small chicken in our run that was not our chicken. I kept looking at it and then got out and went over and sure enough, not our chicken. But here it was, running around with my chickens in our chicken run, trying desperately to get out. We hadn't noticed her that morning when we let the chickens out. She wasn't in there the day before (I'm in the flock run everyday).

So I picked her up and noticed that she was about 4-6 weeks old, still peeping and very tiny. Again. Not my chicken. My only thought was that someone dumped her there or she escaped from a neighbors and found the food? I don't know.

This is the weirdest chicken I've had. Came right to me and only wanted to ride on my shoulder. She actually fell asleep up there while I was finishing some chores. We put her in a special cage in the house to quarantine her. I never add new chickens unless we put them by themselves for 2 weeks.

The next morning (monday) 4 hens and one rooster were all dead on the floor of the coop. My first year babies, that I hatched out myself. Full feathered, plucky the day before. No one was sick. Nothing out of the ordinary.

This morning - one of my rabbits was dead in the rabbit run (which runs the full length of the chicken run). This rabbit is 6 years old. Spayed. Again, no health issues. Frisky and eating and doing all the regular rabbit things.

The only thing the same between the two strings of death is the straw that I got the day before and put in the chicken run (on Sunday Morning) and in the rabbit cages to insulate from the cold. Feed is the same, wood shavings are the same, water from the same source, no other additions.

The original small weird chicken is fine.

I am at a loss. I'm really upset about the chickens dying - I have a breeding program I'm implementing and they were bread special. The rooster was a bit of a wanker, but the hens were special. Good layers, too. The rabbit was a sweet girl and the amount of attention these animals get is a little embarrassing. Our animals are well cared for. I'm at a total loss.

Is there a virus that can kill livestock this quickly? This seems more like poisoning to me? But what would poison a chicken and also a rabbit? Can viruses jump species like that so quickly? (I would think so, but it was fast.)

Is it all coincidence? Is 2020 just messing with me now?

Any thoughts welcome and appreciated.

From your description you have two unusual things, the mystery chicken and the new straw. It's pretty unlikely I think that the new chicken introduced a pathogen that rapidly deadly especially across species and also especially since it is OK.

That leaves the new straw. I think I would get rid of it as soon a possible and be very careful in the process, gloves, mask the whole bit.  

Coccidiosis? It would affect both species.  I would be doing a thorough clean of water sources, check stool, and temperatures.

Could the wee chicken have been caught up in the new straw and travelled to you with it?

OR was it a pet someone dumped, seeing you had chickens?

Do you have neighbors (who maybe hate your animals)? Your start makes me a bit suspicious of foul play.  A.k.a. someone plants the small chickens and then kills the other critters hoping that if you accused them they could say you stole their chicken. IDK, seems conspiracy theoryish.

Maybe its the straw.

Have you done a necropsy on the dead animals to see if there were clues?

I'd be inclined to suspect the straw. If possible, move all animals away from where the straw has been laid, until you can do a deep cleaning. Check on any survivors several times a day, paying attention to their breathing. Personally, I would start my flock on a round of medication for coccidiosis, just as a precaution.

I adopted a stray chicken a few years ago, too. Mine wasn't nearly as friendly as yours, but she's a valuable member of the flock now. Isolation is a good idea.

Any possibility this weird chicken hatched from an egg laid somewhere out of the ordinary? Is it a different breed/type than your birds? Do you have other surviving chickens in this same pen? Neighbors with chickens?

The straw sounds suspect to me. Ditto the others saying to remove it and clean. I wonder if it was sprayed or had something spill on it out of the ordinary and possibility something poisonous to multiple species if ingested.

So sorry to hear all this bad stuff has happened at your place. It must be very unsettling.

Considering how friendly the mystery chicken is, I would say it was hand raised by someone, maybe with kids, probably in their house. The age would be right for just outgrowing the cute and fluffy stage and getting that teenage chicken thing where they molt and get scruffy and the amount of poop is harder to keep up with. So likely it was dumped. At a previous home where we had livestock visible from the road we experienced some of this becoming a dumping ground for unwanted critters. Sometimes without having been asked first.

In my opinion a person who is thoughtless enough to dump a chick without asking and maybe to do so because it is no longer a cute tiny chick is potentially uneducated enough to feed inappropriate treats to the existing critters, perhaps meaning well. Is it possible someone could have been at your place and fed something harmful? We once had people turn up and dump a big bag of apple-peelings over the fence for our goats without asking. Thankfully nothing harmful but we asked them not to do that again. It could equally easily have been something very bad for them. I'm thankful that our critters are now invisible from the road frontage.

I would encourage removal of the straw as others have suggested, just in case, too.

Andrea Locke’s idea sounds a whole lot more likely than mine.

I had another thought. Is it mushroom season where you are? We have new stuff popping up here daily. Maybe something sprouted along the shared boundary between your two pens and only a few of your critters sampled it.