Choked to death on grape

[chickenlady12]

I want to alert everyone to the potential danger of giving grapes to chickens. I read over and over again online how much chickens love grapes and what a special treat they are for them. I remember thinking it was odd, since we are not supposed to give human babies grapes because of the dangers of choking, but I figured all the chicken owners must know better. I have had my chickens since they were born in August and had never had occasion to give them grapes until recently, and I think it did one of our chickens in.
Recently we had a sick chicken with an impacted crop. A neighbor and I did surgery, and she was recovering slowly, but well. She was hungry and wanting to eat a lot, but her crop still seemed squishy and swollen, so I was limiting her food intake. She would get runny oatmeal in the house in the morning, then when I put her out with the other chickens in the afternoon, she would peck at crumbles. She also had a very poopy butt, so from what I read, I thought I would try giving her a piece of a Monistat suppository. I gave her a piece last night and another this morning and her crop seemed a bit less swollen.
I had given the other chickens about a half-dozen green grapes yesterday -- cut in half -- but I guess they didn't eat them all. When I put my sick chicken out with the others, I noticed after awhile she seemed to not be moving. When I went to check on her, she was dead. My daughter noticed vomit coming from her beak, so I dug it out with a leaf stem and out came the grape half. It is very disheartening to think we went through surgery, mediation, special baths, diet, etc., only to lose her to choking on a grape. I keep thinking I shouldn't have put her out there, or I should have watched her more carefully. But she was getting better -- stronger, so I thought it was OK. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Sorry for your loss!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I'm so sorry that happened. Thanks for alerting us to the dangers. I will cut up my grapes for the chickens in even smaller pieces than I used to.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I am sorry for your loss. That is rough. Especially after you work so hard to help them and think they are doing OK.

But that was a sick weakened chicken, not a healthy chicken. You don’t know that that grape choked her, especially if it came out that easily.

I’ve had chickens swallow plum pits or even whole mice without choking. I’ve enjoyed watching a chicken get under my grape vine and jump up to snag whole grapes, not a grape cut in half. I know they are living animals and anything can happen, but a healthy chicken is not likely to choke on a grape or anything else they swallow.

I know you are feeling pretty rotten right now but don’t go spreading fear and panic to people when you’re not sure what happened to a weak sick chicken that had an injury.

 

[scriptkiddieJR]

i am so sorry for you're loss,
we have grape vines which the chickens pluck their fair share for fertilizing it, how big was you're girl?

i have found healthy chickens have great gag reflexes (considering they catch and eat mice)
perhaps because she was sick she couldn't "foop" it out of her mouth.

 

[chickenlady12]

You're probably right -- she was not fully grown, about five months, and definitely smaller than the others because of her health problems. It's probably safe for grown chickens. I guess I'll never really know for sure.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. After you learn a lot about chicken diseases, you will see that crop problems tend to go along with other diseases. If you read about chicken necropsies they will often find multiple problems, and crop stasis will happen during coccidosis, Mareks disease, respiratory diseases, and just about anything else. Chicken death can be very common when they start to mature. It was probably just a coencidence that she had just eaten a grape before she died.