Help! My chicken ate rat bait!

[MyPetNugget]

I was letting them free range and I saw them eating it. About 5 chickens ate half a block. Is there anything I can do?!

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Not an expert, but my mum takes cumedin, a blood thinner, which is a form of warfarin, the main ingredient in rat poison. The antidote, which helps the blood clot when it needs to, is Vitamin K. I would call the vet and see if they could inject Vitamin K as soon as possible?

 

[MyPetNugget]

Thanks for replying so fast, but there are not any vets around. Could we use anything that might be in a regular house or kitchen?

 

[MyPetNugget]

When does the poison usually start working? Will they be ok in the morning?

 

[melanie]

Ger her to the vet asap and get a vitamin K injection. It doesn't cost much, and that will keep her from bleeding out. A chicken will bleed out pretty fast. No she won't be ok in the morning. I would just run her to vet. I've had to do that with dogs. Even had one vet tell me it wasn't rat poison,and I insisted on vit. k shot. Sure enough, within a couple hours he was back to himself.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

There's Vitamin K in kale spinach beet greens collard greens Swiss chard parsley broccoli and Brussels sprouts but its unlikely that your hens will be feeling well enough to eat enough to give them the Vitamin K they need to counteract the rat poison. I agree vet and injection might save your hens. Everything else is a crap shoot.

 

[MyPetNugget]

 

[melanie]

Oh, I'm sorry. Can you run her to the vet? I barely got my dog there in time, plus they were about to close for the weekend.

 

[MyPetNugget]

They all just ate a whole thing of kale. Do I need to give them more? The vet won't be open until morning...... They are still running around, eating like normal. Should I still be worried? Thank you all for your advice.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

If your vet won't do an emerg call and you absolutely have to wait until the morning, then yes, feed all the kale you've got. Don't stint. I would feed as much as they would eat and then some more in the hopes that it will substitute for the injection.