Cyanide Poisoning??

[FlocksOfFluff]

My 6 week old buff o. Rir cross (probably roo) has been throwing up the last couple days. The six chickies, all between 1.5 and 3 months, are being kept in a coop and run. I was wondering what the throw up was from so I monitored the crop, and it has seemed perfectly normal, but he is still throwing up, can't keep anything down, but he still keeps eating and is acting perfectly normal, running around, scratching, and getting into little scuffles. It just occured to me this morning that maybe he was being poisoned. I feel like an idiot for not taking this into consideration earlier. There is a nandina bush in the run that has unripe berries on it, and I guess they have been eating the berries. Nandina berries have cyanide in them. Will the chickens be okay? Does anyone know something about chicken poisoning? Should I just let it pass through their systems and let them throw it all up or should I medicate?

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

I would take any birds showing symptoms to an avian vet as soon as humanly possible. They need special antidotes and such for cyanide poisoning, and a vet would be the best option.

 

[coach723]

Nandina berries are toxic, if you cannot keep the birds away from it I would recommend removing it permanently.
https://ar.audubon.org/news/nandina-berries-kill-birds
If this has been going on several days then I don't think the berries are likely the cause. Birds don't vomit. If the crop is full and not emptying properly then it's contents will come back up if any pressure is put on the crop or if they lean over with the head low. I would check his crop to make sure it's emptying properly. It should fill and empty through out the day as he eats and digests. It should be empty first thing in the morning before access to food and water, so check then to see if it's empty. If it is not empty then, there may be a problem. Sometimes when it's hot birds will drink a lot of water and that can come back up if their crop is really full. But they don't throw up like humans do with an upset stomach. Cyanide poisoning can cause sudden death, or internal hemorrhaging, so the symptoms would be different. I lost one bird to cyanide poisoning from eating a peach pit, it was only a couple of hours and he was gone (did not know the cause til later-child threw a half eaten peach in the run, found the split pit with the innard seed gone later).

 

[FlocksOfFluff]

He hasn't thrown up in awhile and is still acting normal. I know that the others have eaten the berries too but they aren't doing anything out of the ordinary. I moved the nandina bush. I am starting to think that maybe he drank too much water... It has been 90+ degrees for the last few days and they are drinking a lot more water than normal. We don't have an avian vet nearby and even if we did I probably wouldn't take him - he is not purebred and we have too many roosters for too few hens already. He is not the most treasured, and honestly just not worth the money and time if we could just as easily replace him.

 

[FlocksOfFluff]

Thanks for the advice though!

 

[coach723]

You are welcome. If he's drinking a lot, and seems fine otherwise, then it very well could be just because of the heat. If something changes, he looks off at all, then I would look for another reason.
I'm glad you moved the nandina, hopefully prevented a problem from cropping up later.