Equisetum, Horsetail plant in Alaska

[Alaskan]

OK, does anyone know how poisonous this plant is to chickens and ducks?

And symptoms etc. too.

I would prefer personal knowledge since when I looked it up on the internet it said that it was highly toxic to horses, and it isn't really. You have to watch the horses, but the first sign of too much horsetail with horses is a cough. Then you can feed them brewers yeast, or if it is very bad a vitamin K injection, and they are fine.

I wanted to know exactly how it works with chickens since I have a mysteriously ill rooster right now....the only thing I can think of is that he got some horsetail in the weeds I toss to them.

He is eating and drinking, but he can't stand up. It is the oddest thing.

 

[pips&peeps]

I have that poo all around my place too and we have been here about 12 years and have had no reactions in any of our livestock from it.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I know horsetail is high in silica... but I haven't had any adverse reactions with my birds, either. It gets cut up with the grass clippings, and I don't know if they avoid it, or eat it, but nothing weird has happened. You might want to go into a little more detail about your rooster's issues... might be something else.

What is he eating, what do his poos look like, have you checked him over for wounds... that sort of stuff.
How high is his roost?

 

[Alaskan]

I have checked him all over and he looks great. No broken bones, or sore spots.

His poop looks normal.

When I put food and water infront of him he did eat and drink.

He was limping a bit on Sunday, on Monday I didn't check him. On Tuesday evening he couldn't get up. When I try to put him on his feet he just falls over.

So tuesday night I put him in a little cage with food and water. This morning he looks the same, I added a heat lamp.

Food is chicken layer pellets and duck pellets.

Their yard is now dirt, but I toss in weeds, usually several times a day. I don't toss in the pushky or the horsetail. They get mostly fireweed and chickweed. They also got some past its prime garden lettuce. There is sometimes a little horsetail in the chickweed, but I try to get it all out.

I gave the rooster brewers yeast starting last night with some pellets on top.

 

[Alaskan]

Oh, I do feed table scraps....

right now I was sending a child out with some blueberries.

Also, left over meat pieces, etc.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Hmm... the only thing I can think of is that maybe he flew down from high up and hurt his leg(s) on the landing... If it were me, I would separate him and keep him quiet for a few days. It sounds like he's hurting, not having tummy issues with the feed.

 

[Tundra Grey]

OK, does anyone know how poisonous this plant is to chickens and ducks?

And symptoms etc. too.

I would prefer personal knowledge since when I looked it up on the internet it said that it was highly toxic to horses, and it isn't really. You have to watch the horses, but the first sign of too much horsetail with horses is a cough. Then you can feed them brewers yeast, or if it is very bad a vitamin K injection, and they are fine.

I wanted to know exactly how it works with chickens since I have a mysteriously ill rooster right now....the only thing I can think of is that he got some horsetail in the weeds I toss to them.

He is eating and drinking, but he can't stand up. It is the oddest thing.

My goose loves it