Chickens and Wild Mushrooms- Be careful!

[MarkJP]

Hello All,
Just thought I'd post this information that recently occurred with our flock of 6 chickens. We have them in a coop with a large covered roofed run. We had never locked the doors to the coop or run, but simply used carabiner clips on the latches.
Well, my wife when out early one morning and our boss hen (the smallest) was dead after having eaten a wild mushroom that someone (we do suspect who did it) placed in the run. It was a large mushroom which I believe is called a Russula emetica. I had not seen this type in our yard at the time this happened, but is about 3" across with a pinkish top. It has gills under the cap and a whitish stem. Bear in mind that our coop is now packed dirt and is very dry. There were no other mushrooms in the run or coop. It's a sad day when you loose a chicken, but even worse when one is deliberately poisoned. I have now purchase locks (10) for all doors and hatches! I realize that this is not a 'fun' story, but I wanted to share it with you since some of you may have 'neighbors' that are not appreciative of your flock!

 

[Trish1974]

I am so sorry this happened to you. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Fishsticks06]

Hello All,
Just thought I'd post this information that recently occurred with our flock of 6 chickens. We have them in a coop with a large covered roofed run. We had never locked the doors to the coop or run, but simply used carabiner clips on the latches.
Well, my wife when out early one morning and our boss hen (the smallest) was dead after having eaten a wild mushroom that someone (we do suspect who did it) placed in the run. It was a large mushroom which I believe is called a Russula emetica. I had not seen this type in our yard at the time this happened, but is about 3" across with a pinkish top. It has gills under the cap and a whitish stem. Bear in mind that our coop is now packed dirt and is very dry. There were no other mushrooms in the run or coop. It's a sad day when you loose a chicken, but even worse when one is deliberately poisoned. I have now purchase locks (10) for all doors and hatches! I realize that this is not a 'fun' story, but I wanted to share it with you since some of you may have 'neighbors' that are not appreciative of your flock!

Well that’s morbid, you should seriously press charges against them. That’s terrible that someone would do that, and you should really call the police or something. Awful people. I thought chickens knew what was poisonous for the most part, I was freaking out when I saw my chickens catch a monarch butterfly! They dropped it after a minute and left it there to die. I hope things don’t escalate with the chickens, and they stay happy and healthy. Sorry for your loss and hope you do okay!

 

[Tortoise]

So very sorry. Really stinks to have such heartless people in this world and specially when they live too close.

 

[JAE1974]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. You could put up a surveillance or game cam and maybe catch or deter future issues.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

Hello All,
Just thought I'd post this information that recently occurred with our flock of 6 chickens. We have them in a coop with a large covered roofed run. We had never locked the doors to the coop or run, but simply used carabiner clips on the latches.
Well, my wife when out early one morning and our boss hen (the smallest) was dead after having eaten a wild mushroom that someone (we do suspect who did it) placed in the run. It was a large mushroom which I believe is called a Russula emetica. I had not seen this type in our yard at the time this happened, but is about 3" across with a pinkish top. It has gills under the cap and a whitish stem. Bear in mind that our coop is now packed dirt and is very dry. There were no other mushrooms in the run or coop. It's a sad day when you loose a chicken, but even worse when one is deliberately poisoned. I have now purchase locks (10) for all doors and hatches! I realize that this is not a 'fun' story, but I wanted to share it with you since some of you may have 'neighbors' that are not appreciative of your flock!

I am so sorry for the loss of your baby. My daughter and I are sitting outside free ranging our girls for a bit, and she brought me a mushroom from in the yard stating she didn't want them to eat it accidentally. I understand someone purposely put yours in the run, but you now got me wondering if ones in my yard are safe.

 

[phrog6901]

I'm so sorry for your loss. it amazes me how some people can be so closed minded and cruel. I agree with JAE1974, I would get a game camera that turns on when it senses motion.

 

[DuckWhisperer06]

A game cam should help catch the culprit in the future.
Sorry for your loss.
Good luck with the rest of your flock.

 

[Steven Bussell]

That's not kool at all....
My girls are going to be 4 weeks old tomorrow...
My backyard neighbor has been a problem for the 10 years since we brought our house. The other day he told my wife to stop spying on him and he better not caught her walking our dogs in front of his house.
I have already spoken to him about treating my wife...
Because of our flock I would like to keep the peace with him. I have a copy of the city laws printed out just incase someone from the city show's up..
I'm afraid one of the girls maybe a roo.
Which is legal in our city but if someone complains it's a no go.
But I will not let anyone disrespect my wife...

 

[Folly's place]

So sorry! I'd talk to the local police, and set up a camera too. And reinforce your security. Can you do electric fencing? Or a good perimeter fence?
Chickens tend to avoid bad stuff when they are ranging and have lots of choices, but offered one thing when confined, certainly might eat some of it.
It's good to have nice neighbors, and more space too.
Mary