Lost my beautiful Buff after feeding sourdough starter

[CPeters]

Hi! I read all over google and on here that sourdough starter was ok to feed my girls. I started about 3 weeks ago and fed them about 1/2cup (I have 12 Hen and a Roo) maybe 2-3 times a week every other day or two days. I was baking a lot! Sunday I found my biggest Buff Orpington just laying in the run, she was so lethargic and weak. I checked her rear and it was awful! A White pasty mess. She seemed in pain as well. I cleaned her up and offered water with apple cider vinegar, her regular crumble food and she didnt take any of it. I started giving her a little water in a dropper on her Beak and she swallowed some of that and maybe two bites (pecks) of oatmeal and plain yogurt. I Applied an anti fungal cream to the while back side area ( by this time I was going on google searches that it was vent gleet.) I felt pretty confident that she would improve and kept her cozy in the mud room overnight. But I checked on her in the night and she'd passed. I feel so guilty!!! Did I make her sick? I checked all my girls and One other hen had some white on her rear feathers but nothing like my Henrietta and that one has since shown no sickness and seems fine. Of course I haven't fed them any more starter. Was it too much? Did I do this to my sweet Henrietta??

 

[Meri Maura]

If the others are fine, then maybe it was something else. I've had random, unexplainable deaths before.

 

[Meri Maura]

Also

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Have you noticed any other birds with dirty butts or pale combs? Might be a good idea to check for mites.

I do not know how the sourdough starter would affect chickens. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[CPeters]

Have you noticed any other birds with dirty butts or pale combs? Might be a good idea to check for mites.

I do not know how the sourdough starter would affect chickens. I'm sorry for your loss. I've checked them over good and they all seem fine. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Acre4Me]

With only one sick/dead...could have been unrelated to the starter. However, there is no particular reason to feed them flour/sugar/yeast on a regular basis. With regards to water with additives of any kind (ACV, electrolytes, etc can). You should always offer plain water in addition to additive water.

 

[Dephora]

Any home grown sourdough culture will be full of lactobacilli and greatly outnumber the yeast, which is very high in protein anyway and often added to feeds for various benefits.
While half a cup every other days seems like ALOT, It sounds more like an isolated incidence. Though I can see why you would be concerned, as it does sound like your hen had vent gleet, though not often fatal unless a secondary symptom of something else. You will be happy to know that yeast that causes vent gleet, Candida Albicans , is very different from the yeast that makes a good sourdough. So you were not accidentally feeding fungal yeast to your hen.

I would however feed less starter, and when you do feed it, make sure it does not sit out in the run for long. Sourdough starter is great in the compost, worm bin etc. If you have lots of starter left over, consider making waffles and pancakes, coffee cakes, or even pizza crust. I don't know a single baked good that doesn't benefit from a little starter.

If you really want to know what happened to your hen I recommend a necropsy.

 

[Ascholten]

Sounds like something fermented inside her and caused horrible problems. If the other birds did not get sick i don't think it'd be the sourdough really, but if she had a pre existing condition that could have aggravated it. (Before you get all upset and feeling guilty etc, if she DID have something already, it was just a matter of time before well... anything set it off)

Id make sure I cleaned the entire area, sanitized it very well, she did pass from something, want to try to keep from potentially passing that bug on. and just keep an eye on them if you give them starter in the future.

See the problem with ANY starter like that, and this is NOT just a chicken problem, it's super dooper perfect for anything to grow and thrive. THAT is why you made it that way!! So with that, good and bad bugs can go off it. Ask any brewer or I can even think that cheese maker, breadmaker, yogurt person etc, has had a batch gone bad because something else got into it.

Im sorry to hear your bird passed, hopefully it does not happen again on you.

Aaron