Chicken ate moldy feed

[Hens rule]

A week or 2 ago I spilled a lot of chicken food on the ground and my chickens didn't eat all of it before it got wet. And after it got wet from the rain I coverd it up with a tarp to keep my chickens from eating it and so I could move it after the feet rotts and goes away.

And today my dad mowed the lawn so he moved the tarp even though the yucky moldy feed wasn't gone yet.
And just a couple minutes ago my chickens found it and where eating alittle bit of the feed with the white mold on it. I'm not sure if it was just my one hen who pecked at it once of twice or a couple pecked at it or not. I'm really worried it will make Henny the hen who I saw peck it sick and the others who may have pecked at it to.... Please tell me a little won't hurt them...

I only saw Henny peck at it once and eat a little. The others may have pecked alittle to although I'm not sure.

 

[Hens rule]

PLEASE HELP!!!! I'm so worried...

 

[pdirt]

I'm not a chicken or mold expert, but a few things I have learned along the way (mind you, this tends to pertain to humans and many human things also relate to chickens, take this with a BIG grain of salt):

* Chickens love to sift through moldy compost piles to find tasty morsels, assuredly consuming large amounts of mold in the process.
* most molds that are white, green or brown are generally low toxicity.
* the dreaded "black mold" needs long periods (think 2-3 weeks) of hot and moist conditions to develop.
* there are a few molds, such as the black mold, that really are pretty toxic, but they are much less common in most parts of the country than most people think.
* most "black mold" that people call it so is actually dark brown mold. There are some dark brown molds that are toxic as well, but they are also rare.
* penicillin was originally created from common bread mold.
* LSD is created from a mold that grows on rye.

That said, I don't have any other more specific help to offer you other than what you have probably already done...offer them fresh feed, clean water and a well-ventilated but non-drafty coop.

Once we found some mold in a house we were remodeling that had been unattended for months. It was in the shower and looked black to us. A plumber came out (to do work in the shower) and we asked him about it. He said he has seen that very same mold for over 20 years (this was in Seattle) and it wasn't black mold. He shined his super high-power flashlight on it and it was then clearly a dark brown color. He said the black mold is so toxic, you could not be around it as close as we were without being affected by it.

Some folks, especially those with suppressed immune systems, are more sensitive to even common molds.

 

[Hens rule]

Thanks,
That's a big relief

 

[skydive]

I'm currently trying to get a 25wk pullet back from botulism. Lost one last Thursday from it. I would be careful!

 

[Hens rule]

Ok thanks, sorry about your pullet. Hopefully the other will be ok