Mushrooms halted egg laying???

[georgialee]

About a week ago my husband threw some mushrooms for the yard in with the chickens

. The second he told me (about 10 minutes after he did it) I went down there to take them out, but of course they were gone. Since then my 4 bantam cochins have completely stopped laying and my golden comet is laying about 1/2 as many eggs as she used to... and the yolks are very very pale yellow (almost white when hard boiled). So I went from 4-5 eggs a day down to maybe 1 if I'm lucky. Nothing else changed except the weather which has been quite wet and colder than usual. Could it be from the mushrooms??? If it is will they ever start laying again?

 

[damselfish]

I don't really have any idea, I'm just parking here with you to see if someone else does.

My guess would be that yes, it could be the mushrooms but you'd have to know what kind they were and find out their usual effect on humans, then extrapolate from there.

Days are getting shorter too but the change you describe seems pretty abrupt to be just seasonal.

Good luck.

 

[georgialee]

anyone??? pleeease?

 

[drumstick diva]

Could you post pictures of the type of mushrooms? Maybe someone can identify if poisonous or not.

 

[georgialee]

I dont' have any... he said they were small and white about the size of a quarter around. The stem was skinny.

 

[fasbendera]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2908033

Found this link read down there is information about mushrooms and rememdies.

 

[Akane]

I wouldn't think your chickens would still have any effects a week later. If the mushrooms were a highly poisonous variety someone would be dead within the first day and we'd have solved that question. There are so many species of mushrooms it's really hard to id from only a small amount of info but I've read only 1 in 100 species are actually dangerous. Most aren't good eating but aren't truly dangerous. Those few that are though like I said we'd have a dead chicken to go off of. Chickens also seem pretty hardy towards poisonous plants. It was not a good idea to throw in unidentified mushrooms but it's unlikely it's done that much harm if they are still here a week later. Many other things could be slowing down their laying. It is that time of year with light levels getting lower. I am farther north but a few weeks ago my egg production dropped sharply to 1/4th what it was and then our really cold weather started up this past week. Some places of the US have even gotten a bit of snow already.

Even if the light levels and temps are still good there now is the time of year to molt. I also doubt that eating mushrooms would cause pale yolks for a week. Have they been penned up more or have less variety and greens to eat? Flowers and greens cause dark yolks along with a few vegetables and other foods. I'd bet on the mushrooms and egg laying changes being coincidence.