Well, now that you mention it, they were not dark, Lee. Whatever it was, it was not normal at all for any of my birds. Unfortunately, I've attended the passing of way too many this year, so she was very definitely way off. Tom will check her again tonight, then we'll see if she's acting back to normal in the morning.
The birds have been eating lots of pine needles off trees we cut down; perhaps she ate too many, if that's even possible. All the birds were eating them; my guineas used to, supposedly because there is some nutrient they know is there.
I would be highly suspect of a problem from ingesting pine needles.
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HUH, that's odd Cyn. I just googled about feeding pine needles and came across an article about cows ingesting pine needles, and how it causes spontaneous abortion in cattle - but that they will eat them anyway.
Ya don't think there could be some relationship between your internal egg layers and pine needle consumption, do you?????
What I think is you need a vacation from your ckickens.
I'm just kidding I know you love your birds as much as Lisa and I.But you could use a break....to much in to little time.I hope she will be all right.Keep us posted on her condition.
i know pine needles are a natural de-wormer in pigs and i think goats also..but..they are also slightly poisonious(sp?)...are they poison for chickens also?..
Several places say pine needles are a gastric irritant and can perforate bowels...
The pine needles are the only thing I can think of that they ate alot of in the last few days; we cut down a pine tree and they were really chowing down on them. They usually snip the tips off the white pines, so it's not anything new, but too much of anything can be a problem. No one else is acting like that, though. May have nothing to do with this at all. My guineas always did that and I found an article or a post on a forum (cant recall where) that said a certain nutrient in them is what they are craving. Usually, birds will avoid toxic plants or at least, they wont eat enough to hurt them. I do know they are snipping off small pieces, not eating them whole. I did see lots of them in Delilah's poop tonight.
The internal laying is a hormonal issue, Dr. Peter Brown tells me, so I dont think pine needles have any bearing on that. If so, it wouldnt be only my older hatchery birds who are dying from that.