Did I kill my chicken by force-feeding it peppers?

[Mysimplewyominglife]

No, force feeding maybe bad, but the fact it was pepper is irrelevant. The reason peppers are spicy to mammals, whether in or out the other end is not because they are physically burning, but because the cells in & around the mouth, rectum and anus are sensitive to capsicum. When was the last time food was spicy in between your mouth & anus? lol Chickens don't sense capsicum at either end, thus it's not an issue.

While it is true they are not sensitive it's still bad to force feed a chicken powdered anything unless mixed with water.

 

[barred2rock]

While it is true they are not sensitive it's still bad to force feed a chicken powdered anything unless mixed with water.

I don't know if it was in powder form or not, he or she didn't say.

 

[Mysimplewyominglife]

I don't know if it was in powder form or not, he or she didn't say.

Normally when ppl say teaspoon it's something powdered and in seeing how she has not been willing to verify fresh or powdered and just go on the defense then I'm going to stick to my assumption in seeing how it sounds like the bird had irritation in the lungs and aspirated afterwards.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Three days ago I noticed that one of my chickens wasn't walking around; instead, she was just standing in one place. Seemingly, she had worms again. This particular chicken had had worms twice before, and had acted like this both times. The following day, I squirted some water with expired de-worming medicine in it down her throat (I didn't want to use expired medicine, but the only shop where I live that sells de-worming medicine didn't have any fresh medicine available at the time).
Then, yesterday, my chicken got worse. Instead of standing, she was only sitting; this made me think that perhaps the medicine had lost most of its effectiveness. Despite this, I gave her some more of the expired medicine, and also decided to read up on any other possible treatments for worms. I read that peppers are good for chickens, so I put two teaspoons of cayenne pepper and three teaspoons of black pepper down her throat. This was apparently a mistake, because I think it was only after I did this that she started breathing heavily.
Well, I think it's obvious what happened by now. I woke up at 5:30 am this morning to check on her, and she was still alive (and still breathing heavily), but when I checked again three hours later, she was stone dead.
Perhaps I'm being too presumptuous, but the conclusion I've drawn from this experience is that chickens shouldn't be force-fed peppers.

All birds (as far as I know) love rocket hot red peppers. I've seen them eat dozens at a setting. However one thing that chickens don't love is powdered or dusty things like ground black or cayenne pepper. It is sure to cause lung or air sack distress. There is a universe of false health info on the WWW about animals so don't let what you read on the Internet dictate your chickens' health care.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Out of curiosity could it be possible she was just sensitive to penicillin? I feel for the poor thing sounds like it had it rough poor thing.

We have administered animal grade penicillin in the past when we have worse case scenarios. Never expired before. It seemed a little thick but has been a year since we last used it so comparison was was by memory. We injected at 10:00 pm when our local Ag stores were closed. It was stored refrigerated as recommended and mix by shaking it vigorously. Injected at room temp. All as by detected.
A learning experience.
The hens feet were so bad that her toes were almost able to fall off. Perhaps this saved her from a life of anguish but it was not by our intentions.
She was covered with stickers as well when we received her. She was lost and on her own for awhile.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Also sorry about your bird with the pepper indecent. I know how it feels to care for something and loose it. Sorry about your loss..

 

[Mysimplewyominglife]

We have administered animal grade penicillin in the past when we have worse case scenarios. Never expired before. It seemed a little thick but has been a year since we last used it so comparison was was by memory. We injected at 10:00 pm when our local Ag stores were closed. It was stored refrigerated as recommended and mix by shaking it vigorously. Injected at room temp. All as by detected.
A learning experience.
The hens feet were so bad that her toes were almost able to fall off. Perhaps this saved her from a life of anguish but it was not by our intentions.
She was covered with stickers as well when we received her. She was lost and on her own for awhile.

Wow she really was in bad shape. Maybe it was just all to much for her. At lest you tried.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Sorry for your loss.

Honestly, I think you misdiagnosed. Sounds more like she had cocci or maybe egg binding/internal laying.

When she *seemed* to have worms again... did you have fecal floats done this or previous times to confirm and ensure you were treating for the correct species?

Are you treating your other birds for the *same* worms? How often is this happening? Or how long was it since you last treated her? Are you treating with the same medicine every time? What is causing your *alleged* heavy worm load, and what are you doing to treat your land/environment?

Many medications, when they expire *may* only degrade slightly in efficacy. They do not usually become dangerous (allergies are a different issue). Also, you state that you used the same expired med 2 days in a row... full dose each time? Could actually been what helped to kill her, as worming an already ill bird can put too much strain on the system.

I don't think the hot peppers kill worms, but maybe make it an uncomfortable environment so that they flee. I agree that just because birds don't have capsaicin doesn't mean it's safe for them to consume large quantities as it could cause internal burns or ulcers (maybe). We have heat receptors as a means of protection. Pain tells you "this could be dangerous". Why, by the way.. put those heat receptors in the anus of humans?!

One final though... how does a bird get to the point of immobilization from heavy worm load without there being earlier symptoms? Sincere question, just trying to learn here.

I will share that crushed red pepper packets often come for free with your pizza. The hens do seem to enjoy it. But I don't use it thinking it's gonna get rid of my worms. And to be honest, until someone SHOWS me their lab report with specific counts both before and after hot peppers/pumpkin seed/DE... I say hog wash/snake oil.

5 teaspoons at one time of anything, much less peppers seems like an extreme amount to me, for any chicken! How much can they even fit in their crop? Seriously, when my Hubby cooks spicy peppers, it feels our house with very lung/throat irritating fumes... He usually does it outdoors now. I hope you never do that again... we all have to learn somehow and start somewhere though, so I don't mean it to put you down! I'm sure you did your best with the information you had at the time.

To answer your original question... Yes, I think you contributed to or hastened the death of your bird by force feeding peppers (especially if they were in dry powder form), and maybe too much wormer. But she may not have made it anyways, and you might feel worse about doing nothing.

There are other external parasites that if out of control could also contribute to the weakness. There really isn't enough info given for a true assessment...

Better luck next time!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

All birds (as far as I know) love rocket hot red peppers. I've seen them eat dozens at a setting. However one thing that chickens don't love is powdered or dusty things like ground black or cayenne pepper. It is sure to cause lung or air sack distress. There is a universe of false health info on the WWW about animals so don't let what you read on the Internet dictate your chickens' health care.

I wonder if that's because they like RED stuff by nature?

 

[wvchics]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Maybe she was too sick to be saved. Or, maybe the medicine didn't work. No one can say for sure. Definitely keep an eye on the rest of the flock. They should be getting more medicine in you would think. You may want to consider having a few tested or even treating the whole flock.