Mushrooms and free ranging

[allmypeeps]

We spread dry (but not fully composted) horse/goat manure we got from a small farm, in our raised garden beds.

With all this wet weather here in Maine, mushrooms have started sprouting up everywhere! All different shapes, colors and sizes. Theres at least 10 different varieties out there! I try plucking them out but they come right back full force.

We are in the city and have a small backyard. The chickens get 'loud' when they are bored so for entertainment we let them forage thru the garden(more like weed) beds for bugs, grass, etc...

I saw one pecking at the mushrooms and got nervous they would get sick, or have a recation to all the fungus in the soil so put them back in their pen for now.

Is it OK to let them free range where there are all these mushrooms about?? Will they instinctively know to not eat them??
Could they catch any other fungus related condition by scratching and scuffing around in manurey soil????

Advice appreciated

e

 

[babyspice35]

I wouldn't be concerned about them catching a fungus, but rather eating a poison mushroom!

Maybe continue hand picking them or spray an organic fungicide and keep them away from the area a bit.

 

[allmypeeps]

I just looked up mushroom info from different sites.

heres one: www.horseincorp.org/Mushrooms.html

I am paranoid now about the mushrooms....theres SO many I can't possibley pluck them all out, more would just pop up in their place anyway so I think I'll just refrain from letting the birds forage. I'm really disappointed...

I dont think I will use farm fresh manure anymore.

What do people with free ranging birds usually do? I'm sure there must be mushrooms about...I read on here how some people's birds like to forage in the manure piles...so I'm sure some peopel must have abundant mushroom populations on their property....their chickens must just leave them alone?

Or maybe thats why there are so many 'sudden' unknown chicken illness/deaths reported??? Peopel usually figure worms or viral, but perhaps its the MUSHROOMS!!!!!!! ????

Seriously though, I think I'll just keep them in their coop, they won't be happy, but at least they'll be safe...

 

[gritsar]

We have alot of cows on our place and whenever it rains there are tons of mushrooms. Although a few of my chickens have taken quick pecks at the mushrooms just to be sure it's not something they want to eat, for the most part they leave the shrooms alone.
ETA: Over a year of free ranging and I've had one death. It was a heart attack.

 

[columbiacritter]

I have tons of mushrooms at certain times of the year and never a sick or ill bird.

 

[Rootball]

Get a book and look up your mushrooms.....

you might have some gourmet breeds out there worth hundreds of dollars a pound and your chickens will be feasting on them.

 

[allmypeeps]

I live in the city and have a small yard... litterally 21 X 56' and it's split up so the dogs can have a space and the chickens have a space and so I can have a garden.

(((seriously the birds have more space then the dogs or I do!!!))But they've pecked it down to dirt so foraging in my weedy garden was a delightful treat.
Being that my yard is such a small place to 'free range' they tend to be ravinous over whatever tidbits they find and don't know if they'd stop at just a 'quick peck' of the shrooms. I was opening mail outside and dropped a piece of paper I ripped and spent forever chasing one of them around trying to retrieve the paper! (But thats just a 'chicken thing' -I know- but mine being extra depribed of area to 'free range' makes them overzealous of their findings....!!)

Blasted rain!!! Blasted manure lovin' shrooms!!!

more wet weather to come.....as if 3 WEEKS of turential WETNESS hasnt been enough!!!

After reading the conciquences of eating a misidentified shroom...I don't think I will ever eat any mushroom that doesnt come from the store but THANKS!!!!

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

Please be very careful around mushrooms concerning your chickens. We lost my daughters favorite gold laced polish roo to mushroom poisoning. I never saw them growing at the edge of his run and he ate them. Now I watch everyday to be sure no more are sprouting up. Within one day he started to get lethargic and stopped eating We tried to nurse him back to health but it was no use. I would hate to see another chicken die of this poisoning if I could help it.

 

[lauralou]

I am a wild mushroom hunter. (Kids - don't try this at home!)

My chickens freerange. I see oodles of little brown mushrooms in my yard. This is a class of mushrooms that I avoid picking, as there are lots of different kinds that look similar, and some may be poisonous. I have never noticed my chickens eating them.

They do scarf down the remains of my "good" mushrooms that I bring home. I stand on the back deck and pull out the stems and toss them off. Or if I find one that has worms in it, I toss it over to the chickens. That's always a big hit!

On my last hunt, I found some boletes that I had never seen before. They were clearly boletes, just a different kind than I am used to seeing. I identified them online, and found that they were not poisonous, but not delicious either. So I threw them to the chickens. They raced in, took one peck, and dispersed. Giving me dirty looks. Out of curiosity, I tasted a tiny bite of the raw cap. It was quite bitter. So evidently my chickens won't eat mushrooms that I wouldn't eat!

I'm curious as to why mushrooms are sprouting from the manure. I've never had that happen before. Only because I would think it was cool, I'm sure. If I were you, I would try to identify them. Google mushroom identification and see if you can find any pictures that look like your mushrooms.

Or post a picture here. Or PM me a picture. I'm no huge expert. I know what grows around here, what is yummy and what is deadly in my area. I don't know much about the ones that fall between yummy and deadly on the spectrum. I mostly just ignore those. But I may be able to help you identify them. If they are not poisonous, you won't have to keep your chickens up.

 

[allmypeeps]

Ok! I will try to get some pics....I just went thru yesterday and demolished all those I could find.... I would love to figure out what they are though! (not that I will eat them- but just so I can relax if the birs do)

I read that the fungus breaks down the manure and turns it to compost....we dont get alot of sun over the garden beds due to the shadowing of houses and trees (hence why its weedy and the chickens are allowed in it!)

Their are some that are light brown with very thin tall stalks and little light brown caps they then turn very dark almost black and stain plant life around them black.

Some are orange/white and look liek little bowls and hold round 'seeds'. There are also dark brown ones that look liek this.

There are some that are big and thick and have rippley uneven shaped caps. They get really mushy when they get old.

Others are very short and tiny and grow in clusters that just look like domes that have 'flat plateau tops' to them that are bright yellow.

I will try and get pics!!!!

THANKS!!!!